A reciprocal relation runs in both directions: A helps B and B helps A. Catalan can express that relation with the plural weak forms ens, us, es: Ens ajudem “We help each other,” Us escriviu “You write to each other,” Es truquen “They call each other.” These are the same forms used reflexively, so context does not always tell you whether the meaning is “themselves” or “each other.”
When ambiguity matters, add an explicit reciprocal phrase such as l'un a l'altre, with the gender and preposition required by the participants and the verb. English has frozen each other; Catalan makes both the internal agreement and the surrounding preposition visible.
Building a reciprocal sentence
The subject must contain at least two participants: a plural pronoun, a plural noun phrase, or coordinated singular noun phrases. The reciprocal weak pronoun matches that subject in person.
| Participants | Weak form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| nosaltres | ens | Ens truquem cada vespre. |
| vosaltres | us | Us ajudeu molt. |
| ells, elles, vostès | es / s' | S'escriuen sovint. |
La Berta em truca quan té un problema i jo també la truco; ens truquem gairebé cada dia.
Berta calls me when she has a problem, and I call her too; we call each other almost every day.
Vosaltres dos us enteneu molt bé, fins i tot quan no esteu d'acord.
You two understand each other very well, even when you disagree.
Els veïns s'ajuden sempre que algú està malalt.
The neighbors help one another whenever someone is ill.
The clitic may function as a direct object (ens veiem), an indirect object (ens enviem missatges), or another personal complement licensed by the verb. Its meaning is distributed: every participant is linked to at least one other participant in the subject group.
Ens enviem fotos dels nens, però no ens veiem gaire perquè vivim lluny.
We send each other photos of the children, but we don't see each other much because we live far apart.
Reflexive or reciprocal? The forms are identical
La Marta i la Laia es miren has two possible structures. Each woman may look at herself, or each may look at the other. The weak pronoun alone cannot resolve the ambiguity.
La Marta i la Laia es miren a si mateixes al mirall abans de sortir.
Marta and Laia look at themselves in the mirror before going out.
La Marta i la Laia es miren l'una a l'altra sense dir res.
Marta and Laia look at each other without saying anything.
The strong phrase selects the reading: a si mateixes is reflexive, while l'una a l'altra is reciprocal. The full self-directed system is explained on the reflexive weak pronouns page. With verbs whose real-world meaning strongly favors one reading, no clarification is necessary: Els dos germans s'escriuen cada setmana is naturally reciprocal, while Els dos germans es dutxen abans d'esmorzar is naturally distributive reflexive.
There is a genuine gray area with group actions. Es van fer una foto can mean that they photographed one another, that one member photographed the group, or that they arranged for a photo. Grammar alone does not settle every event. Add a full phrase when the distinction matters.
L'un a l'altre and gender agreement
The two halves of l'un ... l'altre can agree with the participants. For two men use l'un ... l'altre; for two women, l'una ... l'altra. With one man and one woman, the two halves may show different genders according to the participants being correlated. Plural sets can use els uns ... els altres or les unes ... les altres.
| Participants | Reciprocal phrase | Example |
|---|---|---|
| two men | l'un a l'altre | Es respecten l'un a l'altre. |
| two women | l'una a l'altra | S'ajuden l'una a l'altra. |
| one man and one woman | l'un a l'altra | Es fan retrets l'un a l'altra. |
| several all-female groups | les unes a les altres | Es donen suport les unes a les altres. |
En Pau i la Núria es feien preguntes l'un a l'altra durant el viatge.
Pau and Núria asked each other questions during the journey.
Les jugadores es van felicitar les unes a les altres al final del partit.
The players congratulated one another at the end of the match.
Masculine plural can serve as the mixed-group default, but an all-female pair or group naturally takes feminine forms. Agreement makes the participants easier to track; it is not decorative.
The verb determines the preposition
The familiar phrase l'un a l'altre contains a, but a is not universal. Use the preposition selected by the verb or relationship:
| Frame | Reciprocal expression |
|---|---|
| ajudar algú / escriure a algú | s'ajuden / s'escriuen l'un a l'altre |
| parlar amb algú | parlen l'un amb l'altre |
| pensar en algú | pensen l'un en l'altre |
| aprendre d'algú | aprenen l'un de l'altre |
| viure per algú | viuen l'un per l'altre |
Tot i viure en països diferents, pensen sovint l'un en l'altre.
Although they live in different countries, they often think about each other.
Les dues investigadores aprenen l'una de l'altra i publiquen molts articles juntes.
The two researchers learn from each other and publish many articles together.
English each other does not reveal whether Catalan needs a, amb, en, de, or per. Learn the verb's Catalan frame rather than assigning a automatically.
Weak pronoun, full phrase, or reciprocal adverb?
The weak pronoun is the normal compact choice: Es respecten. Add l'un a l'altre to remove reflexive ambiguity, mark gender, or emphasize mutuality: Es respecten l'un a l'altre. The phrases entre ells, entre elles, and entre nosaltres mean “among themselves/ourselves” and are useful with communication or internal group activity, though they do not always assert that every possible pair participates.
Ho van decidir entre elles, sense consultar la resta de l'equip.
They decided it among themselves, without consulting the rest of the team.
The adverbs mútuament (formal) and recíprocament (formal, academic) remove ambiguity without naming each half of the pair: Les dues institucions es reconeixen mútuament. They are natural in contracts, institutional prose, and analysis, but heavy in ordinary conversation.
Some verbs already express joint or mutual activity and need no reciprocal clitic: col·laboren, conversen, coincideixen, competeixen. Do not add es merely because English can paraphrase them with “each other.” La Jana i en Biel col·laboren is complete.
Do not confuse reciprocity with en or hi
A plural subject does not make every weak pronoun reciprocal. In Tots dos parlen del problema i en parlen cada dia, en resumes del problema; it does not connect the two people. In Tots dos pensen en la proposta i hi pensen sovint, hi resumes en la proposta. To say that the people think about each other, keep the full personal phrase: Pensen l'un en l'altre.
La Sílvia i en Roc parlen del projecte cada matí; en parlen molt, però gairebé no parlen l'un amb l'altre de cap altra cosa.
Sílvia and Roc talk about the project every morning; they talk about it a lot, but they hardly talk to each other about anything else.
English may omit “about it,” but Catalan requires en or hi when the governed complement is resumed. Conversely, es parlen means that the participants talk to one another; it cannot replace en parlen “they talk about it.”
Placement and combinations
Reciprocal weak pronouns follow the same placement rules as reflexive ones. They precede finite verbs (ens ajudem, no us interrompeu, s'han escrit) and attach to infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives (ajudar-nos, escrivint-se, ajudeu-vos).
No us interrompeu: escolteu-vos fins al final i després responeu.
Don't interrupt each other: listen to each other until the end and then respond.
Després d'anys sense parlar-se, han decidit tornar-se a escriure.
After years without speaking to each other, they have decided to write to each other again.
When a locative or other weak pronoun joins the reciprocal, the personal form comes first: ens hi trobem, us hi espereu, s'hi reuneixen. The first form may elide before hi: s'hi, not hi es. Postverbally, preserve the cluster and hyphenation: trobar-s'hi.
A dialogue with a clear pair
—La Berta i la Cèlia encara no es parlen? —Sí, ara es truquen cada vespre i s'ajuden l'una a l'altra amb la mudança.
Are Berta and Cèlia still not speaking to each other? —They are now: they call each other every evening and help each other with the move.
The two named participants make every reciprocal relation unambiguous. Feminine l'una a l'altra agrees with both women, and amb la mudança is a separate complement of ajudar.
Regional forms and register
Reciprocal syntax is shared across IEC and AVL standards. Regional differences mainly affect the surface clitic forms already found in reflexives: (regional: Northwestern, Valencian, Balearic, and Alguerese; informal) mos may replace ens, and (regional: Valencian and Balearic) vos is widely preserved beside the general formal us. The correlatives l'un ... l'altre and their feminine and plural forms are pan-regional. In spontaneous speech, a short weak-pronoun form is usually more natural than the formal adverbs mútuament or recíprocament.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting the reciprocal object because English can leave “each other” implicit.
❌ La Joana i en Marc veuen cada setmana.
Incorrect for 'they see each other every week' — the transitive verb lacks its reciprocal object.
✅ La Joana i en Marc es veuen cada setmana.
Joana and Marc see each other every week.
2. Leaving masculine forms with an all-female pair.
❌ Les dues amigues s'ajuden l'un a l'altre.
Incorrect — both halves should agree with the two female participants.
✅ Les dues amigues s'ajuden l'una a l'altra.
The two friends help each other.
3. Using a automatically instead of the verb's preposition.
❌ Encara pensen l'un a l'altre cada dia.
Incorrect — pensar governs en in this meaning.
✅ Encara pensen l'un en l'altre cada dia.
They still think about each other every day.
4. Copying Spanish personal a before ordinary direct objects.
❌ La Marta mira a la Júlia, però la Júlia no mira a la Marta.
Incorrect in the neutral pattern — these ordinary human direct objects do not take personal a.
✅ La Marta mira la Júlia, però la Júlia no mira la Marta; no es miren l'una a l'altra.
Marta looks at Júlia, but Júlia does not look at Marta; they do not look at each other.
5. Reversing a cluster or separating an attached pronoun.
❌ A la biblioteca, hi es troben per ajudar se amb els deures.
Incorrect — es comes before hi and an infinitive takes the attached form -se.
✅ A la biblioteca, s'hi troben per ajudar-se amb els deures.
They meet each other at the library to help each other with their homework.
Key Takeaways
Use ens, us, or es with a plural or coordinated subject to express mutual action. Because the same forms are reflexive, add l'un ... l'altre when ambiguity matters. Make its forms agree with the participants and let the verb choose the middle preposition: amb, en, de, per, or a. Keep reciprocal clitics distinct from en and hi, which resume governed topics or places rather than participants.
Related Topics
- Reflexive Weak PronounsA2 — Use em, et, es, ens, and us when an action returns to its subject, including body-care patterns and strong self-forms.
- Inherently Pronominal VerbsA2 — Recognize Catalan verbs whose weak reflexive pronoun is part of the verb itself, and use them with the right person, complement, and placement.
- Strong Pronouns after PrepositionsA1 — Use mi, tu, ell, ella, nosaltres, vosaltres, ells, elles, and reflexive si as stressed complements of Catalan prepositions.
- Ordering Two Weak PronounsB1 — Build two-pronoun clusters by grammatical role, with the standard Central order, spelling, and placement before and after the verb.
- Pronoun Placement Across Verb FormsB1 — Place weak pronouns before finite verbs, after infinitives, gerunds, and affirmative imperatives, and correctly across verb phrases.
- Anaphora and BindingC1 — Track Catalan reflexive, reciprocal, pronominal, and possessive reference through local syntax and discourse viewpoint.