Clitic Climbing with Verb Periphrases

In a tightly integrated verb phrase, a Catalan weak pronoun that belongs syntactically to an infinitive or gerund can often appear before the finite verb: Puc veure'l and El puc veure both mean “I can see him/it.” This alternation is called clitic climbing because el is the object of veure, yet in the second version it “climbs” to the left edge of the whole phrase.

Climbing is common with modal verbs such as poder and voler, with haver de, and with progressive estar + gerund. It usually changes information packaging and rhythm, not the basic event described. It is not, however, a license to move pronouns across any sequence of two verbs.

For the placement system outside periphrases, see pronoun placement across verb forms.

The two basic positions

When the verb phrase is sufficiently integrated, the whole weak-pronoun cluster has two main positions:

1. climbed position: before the finite verb;
2. low position: attached to the infinitive or gerund that assigns its syntactic role.

In the first pair, ho is the direct object of confirmar, not of poder. In the second, les is the feminine plural direct object of convidar, not of voler. The climbed position therefore reflects the cohesion of the verb phrase rather than a change in grammatical function.

The principal environments

The second example has a masculine antecedent such as l'informe. Progressive estar + gerund allows climbing because the two verbs form one aspectual unit: estar locates an event in progress, while revisant supplies the lexical content and selects the object.

With anar a + infinitive, distinguish the standard imminent construction from a Spanish-style present future. In past contexts, imminence is normal: Ho anava a dir / Anava a dir-ho “I was about to say it.” Present Ara vaig a explicar-ho is not the neutral way to say “Now I am going to explain it” when no physical movement is involved; use Ara ho explicaré or Ara ho explico. A genuine motion reading is different:

Here anar retains the concrete meaning “go,” and the infinitive expresses purpose. Both placements are established, though the lower form makes the link with buscar especially transparent.

More than two verbs: several possible landing sites

A longer periphrasis may provide more than two legitimate positions. In the periphrastic past of voler dominar, for example, the object of dominar can stand before the auxiliary va, attach to the first infinitive, or attach to the lowest infinitive:

All three versions keep els linked to dominar. The differences are mainly prosodic and stylistic. The fully climbed version is very natural in speech; the lowest position makes the lexical dependency maximally visible. The middle position is possible because voler itself is an infinitive inside the periphrastic past and can host the clitic.

This flexibility does not apply when each pronoun belongs to a different predicate:

The reflexive em belongs to decidir-se; -los represents els fullets, the object of repartir. Combining them as me'ls vaig decidir a repartir would falsely treat both pronouns as one climbable cluster. Compare the genuine periphrasis Me'ls has de repartir / Has de repartir-me'ls, where both pronouns belong to repartir and move together.

En and hi climb too

English often has no overt counterpart of en or hi. Catalan nevertheless retains them when the full complement is recoverable. En represents many de-complements and partitives; hi represents locations and many complements introduced by a, en, amb, or per.

The numeral remains because en retrieves the omitted noun, not the quantity. Likewise, hi in hi volen anar preserves the goal relation even though English “go there” does not display a preposition.

Clusters climb as a unit

When two or more weak pronouns depend on the same nonfinite verb, normally move the complete cluster. Its internal order stays the same.

In the Central baseline, l' represents el portàtil and dative hi represents a l'Arnau. Climbing moves l'hi together. The attached form tornar-l'hi uses hyphens and an apostrophe according to the normal postverbal spelling system.

Negation does not block either position. It precedes a climbed cluster, while a low cluster remains attached to the nonfinite verb:

Strong pronouns behave differently because they are stressed phrases, not clitics: Ho vol fer per tu and Vol parlar d'ella. They stay in the position licensed by the preposition and do not “climb” as weak forms.

What climbing normally means in discourse

The alternatives are usually truth-conditionally equivalent, but not always stylistically identical. A climbed pronoun makes the whole predicate sound compact and keeps an already active referent near the beginning of the clause. The low position keeps the pronoun beside the verb that selects it and can make a long or structurally complex sentence easier to parse. Both are neutral standard options in the constructions covered here; “spoken” versus “written” is a tendency, not a grammatical split.

Climbing becomes doubtful or impossible when the first verb heads its own lexical clause rather than functioning as a modal, aspectual, or tightly integrated predicate. Va decidir comprar-lo is neutral; El va decidir comprar is not its normal equivalent. The boundary is genuinely lexical: there is no single English test that identifies every Catalan climbing verb, so frequent frames must be learned as frames.

A dialogue with clear antecedents

The antecedents are unambiguous: Central l' retrieves masculine l'informe, and hi retrieves singular recipient a la directora. (regional: Valencian) the standard cluster preserves li and uses the order li'l: Li'l he d'enviar / He d'enviar-li'l. These are two coherent regional systems, not interchangeable pieces. Balearic, Northwestern, Northern, and Alguerese speech likewise has regional clitic shapes, but the possibility of placing a licensed cluster around a periphrasis is shared broadly across contemporary Catalan.

Common Mistakes

1. Omitting en or hi because English has no matching word.

2. Copying English spacing and postverbal order.

3. Importing Spanish-style personal a into the full direct object.

4. Splitting a cluster that belongs to one infinitive.

5. Mixing preverbal and postverbal shapes.

Key Takeaways

With poder, voler, haver de, estar + gerund, and other licensed integrated predicates, a weak-pronoun cluster can normally stand before the finite verb or attach to the nonfinite verb that selects it. Longer periphrases may allow an intermediate host. Keep pronouns together only when they belong to the same predicate, preserve en and hi when their Catalan functions require them, and recompute apostrophes and hyphens after choosing the position.