An impersonal sentence has no referential subject: it describes a situation without presenting any particular person or thing as the doer. Catalan uses several distinct constructions for this purpose—weather verbs, cal, haver-hi, impersonal es, an unspecified third-person plural, and generic second person.
English often inserts the dummy subjects “it,” “there,” or “you.” Catalan does not translate those words mechanically. The structure chosen tells you whether the sentence presents a natural condition, an existing entity, a necessity, an anonymous agent, or a general human experience.
Weather and environmental conditions
True weather verbs appear in the third-person singular without an expressed subject. Nothing corresponding to English dummy “it” belongs before them.
Plou tant que gairebé no es veu l'altra banda del carrer.
It's raining so hard that you can barely see the other side of the street.
Aquesta nit ha nevat a les cotes més altes del Pirineu.
It snowed at the highest elevations of the Pyrenees tonight.
Many common conditions instead use fer or haver-hi: fa fred, fa calor, fa vent, hi ha boira. The noun after fer does not become a grammatical subject, and the finite verb stays singular.
Al matí feia un fred que pelava, però ara s'hi està bé.
In the morning it was bitterly cold, but it's pleasant there now.
Hi ha tanta boira a l'autopista que han reduït el límit de velocitat.
There's so much fog on the motorway that they've lowered the speed limit.
These clauses can take place and time expressions, but fronting one does not turn it into a subject. Compare neutral Fa molta calor a la cuina with A la cuina, hi fa molta calor. The initial phrase is a topic setting the scene; hi resumes that location in the second construction.
Cal: impersonal necessity
Cal presents something as necessary. With the infinitive, the person responsible is left open or recovered from context. With que plus the subjunctive, the necessary action has its own explicit or understood subject.
| Pattern | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| cal + infinitive | an action is necessary | Cal reservar amb temps. |
| cal que + present subjunctive | a present or future situation is necessary | Cal que reservis avui. |
| calia que + imperfect subjunctive | a past necessity | Calia que reservessis abans. |
Per renovar el passaport, cal demanar cita prèvia.
To renew your passport, you need to make an appointment.
Cal que tots els membres signin l'acta abans de divendres.
All the members need to sign the minutes before Friday.
No cal que portis res; ja hem comprat menjar per a tothom.
You don't need to bring anything; we've already bought food for everyone.
The negation has scope over necessity: no cal sortir means “it is not necessary to leave,” not “it is necessary not to leave.” To prohibit leaving, use no es pot sortir or a negative command. English “mustn't” is especially dangerous because it normally expresses prohibition, whereas Catalan no cal expresses lack of need.
Haver-hi: presenting what exists
In hi ha dues cadires lliures, the noun phrase dues cadires lliures is presented as new information; it is not an ordinary preverbal subject. In contemporary standard Catalan, impersonal haver-hi remains third-person singular even before a plural noun.
Hi havia tres missatges nous a la bústia aquest matí.
There were three new messages in the inbox this morning.
Demà hi haurà més trens entre Girona i Barcelona.
Tomorrow there will be more trains between Girona and Barcelona.
Plural agreement such as hi havien tres missatges is widespread (informal) in several dialects, including much Central Catalan speech, but edited (formal) IEC and AVL usage keeps hi havia. Learners need to recognize the colloquial form without treating it as the safest model for careful writing.
The neutral order is presentational: A la plaça hi ha una concentració. Moving the new noun phrase to the left changes its discourse status: De concentracions, avui n'hi ha dues. Here de concentracions is a topic, and en measures the quantity inside the clause. See existential sentences for the full contrast.
Impersonal es and passive-looking clauses
Impersonal es suppresses the identity of a human agent and presents an activity as typical, permitted, or experienced generally. The verb is third-person singular.
En aquest barri es viu tranquil·lament fins i tot a l'estiu.
People live peacefully in this neighbourhood even in summer.
Des d'aquí es pot arribar al refugi en menys de dues hores.
From here, you can reach the mountain hut in under two hours.
With a transitive verb and a noun phrase, a closely related pronominal passive is often more natural, and its verb agrees with that noun: Es venen pisos; Es lloga una habitació. The difference is structural, not merely stylistic.
Es venen entrades per al concert a partir de dilluns.
Tickets for the concert go on sale starting Monday.
Bracketed, the contrast is [impersonal es] [viu-3SG] [bé] versus [passive es] [venen-3PL] [entrades-3PL]. English can translate both with “you/people” or a passive, but Catalan agreement reveals two analyses.
Unnamed they and generic you
A third-person plural verb with no stated subject can imply an unidentified human agent. Unlike impersonal es, it often suggests that some real people performed a particular action, even though the speaker does not know or does not name them.
Truquen a la porta; pots mirar qui és?
Someone's knocking at the door; can you see who it is?
Diuen que obriran una biblioteca nova al costat del mercat.
They say a new library will open next to the market.
Catalan also uses second-person singular for general experience, much like conversational English “you.” It is (informal) and does not necessarily address the listener personally.
Quan treballes de nit, al principi et costa dormir de dia.
When you work nights, it's hard to sleep during the day at first.
In careful (formal) prose, hom can express a generic human subject: Hom pot consultar els originals amb autorització. It is distinctly formal and much rarer in everyday speech, where es poden consultar is more idiomatic. Valencian formal writing also uses these standard options; ordinary regional speech varies mainly in frequency, not in the basic contrast.
A natural dialogue
—Cal portar jaqueta? —Sí. A dalt hi ha boira i diuen que aquesta tarda nevarà. —Doncs sortim ara, abans que es faci fosc.
—Do we need to bring a jacket? —Yes. There's fog up there, and they say it'll snow this afternoon. —Then let's leave now, before it gets dark.
The dialogue moves through three impersonal strategies: cal expresses necessity, hi ha presents a condition, and third-person plural diuen leaves the source unnamed. Es faci fosc is another environmental expression without a referential subject.
Ambiguity: impersonal or omitted specific subject?
Han tancat el pont per obres.
They've closed the bridge for construction.
Out of context, han tancat can have an unnamed impersonal agent (“the authorities/someone”) or a specific omitted plural subject already under discussion (“the engineers”). Catalan's normal subject omission makes both readings possible. If the identity matters, state it: Els tècnics han tancat el pont. If the result matters more than the agent, use the passive-like El pont ha quedat tancat per obres.
Short correction task
Correct these sentences: Ell plou molt avui; Hi havien quatre places lliures in formal writing; No cal que vens tan d'hora.
✅ Avui plou molt.
It's raining heavily today.
✅ Hi havia quatre places lliures.
There were four places available. (formal standard)
✅ No cal que vinguis tan d'hora.
You don't need to come so early.
Common Mistakes
❌ Això fa fred avui.
Incorrect English-style dummy subject — weather 'fer' has no referential subject.
✅ Avui fa fred.
It's cold today.
❌ Són moltes persones a la sala.
Incorrect existential structure — use impersonal 'haver-hi', not copular 'ser'.
✅ Hi ha molta gent a la sala.
There are a lot of people in the room.
❌ Es venen una bicicleta gairebé nova.
Incorrect agreement in the pronominal passive — the singular noun requires a singular verb.
✅ Es ven una bicicleta gairebé nova.
A nearly new bicycle is for sale.
❌ No cal que arribes abans de les vuit.
Incorrect mood — 'cal que' selects the subjunctive.
✅ No cal que arribis abans de les vuit.
You don't need to arrive before eight.
Key Takeaways
- Weather expressions have no English-style dummy “it”: plou, neva, fa vent.
- Standard impersonal haver-hi stays singular: hi havia tres opcions.
- Use cal + infinitive for open necessity and cal que + subjunctive when the necessary event has its own subject.
- Impersonal es, unnamed third-person plural, and generic second person package the human agent differently.
- An initial place or noun phrase may be a topic, not a subject; agreement and clitic resumption reveal its role.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Existential Sentences with Haver-hiA1 — Use invariant haver-hi to introduce people and things, and distinguish Catalan hi ha from English there is and there are.
- Basic Clause OrderA1 — Build neutral Catalan clauses and understand when omitted or postverbal subjects change the information structure.
- Subjunctive after Impersonal ExpressionsB1 — Use impersonal frames to express necessity, advice, possibility, and evaluation with an appropriately marked dependent clause.
- 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.
- Negation Scope and AmbiguityB2 — Identify what Catalan no negates around constituents, quantifiers, modals, subordinate clauses, and spoken focus, then disambiguate by paraphrasing.