Agreement is the network of matching features that holds a Catalan clause together. A finite verb identifies the subject's person and number; articles and adjectives reveal a noun's gender and number; a predicate adjective points back to its subject. English marks only a small part of this network, so an English-speaking learner must learn to follow grammatical relationships rather than simply copy the ending of the nearest word.
The central principle is agreement with the head that controls the construction. In les claus noves funcionen bé, les and noves agree with the feminine noun clau and take plural form with it, while funcionen agrees with the plural subject phrase as a whole. The adverb bé never agrees.
The main agreement links
| Controller | Element that agrees | Features | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| subject | finite verb | person, number | Les veïnes protesten. |
| noun | article, demonstrative, adjective | gender, number | aquelles finestres obertes |
| subject | predicate adjective or participle | gender, number | Les finestres estan obertes. |
| direct-object clitic, in one construction | compound participle | gender, number, variably | Les claus, les he trobades. |
Les veïnes del quart han arribat abans que comencés la reunió.
The neighbors from the fourth floor arrived before the meeting began.
The subject is les veïnes del quart, not the nearer singular noun quart. The plural ending on han arribat therefore follows veïnes. This is why finding the head and the clause boundaries matters: proximity alone is unreliable.
Subject–verb agreement
A finite verb agrees with its grammatical subject even when the subject is omitted, follows the verb, or is separated from it. Catalan is a null-subject language, so the ending often carries the only overt person-and-number information.
Demà presentarem nosaltres les conclusions, perquè la directora no hi serà.
Tomorrow we will present the conclusions ourselves, because the director will not be there.
Al final del carrer hi vivien dues germanes que restauraven mobles.
At the end of the street lived two sisters who restored furniture.
In the second sentence, the initial locative is not the subject. The postverbal phrase dues germanes controls plural vivien; que is the subject of restauraven inside the relative clause. A bracketed analysis makes the two domains visible:
[Al final del carrer] [hi vivien [dues germanes [que restauraven mobles]]].
English word order might tempt you to call the first phrase the subject, but grammatical function is not determined by first position. The fuller distinction between preverbal and postverbal subjects appears on subject position.
Agreement inside the noun phrase
Articles, demonstratives, many quantifiers, and adjectives normally agree with the noun they modify. Some adjectives have four audible or written forms; others distinguish only number.
Aquelles dues propostes ambicioses semblen prou realistes.
Those two ambitious proposals seem realistic enough.
Hem llogat un local gran i dues sales grans per als tallers.
We have rented a large room and two large rooms for the workshops.
The prepositional phrase per als tallers does not alter the agreement inside dues sales grans. Nor does English predict the forms: English the and attributive adjectives are invariable, while Catalan makes the dependency visible on several words. See basic adjective agreement for the formation of the endings themselves.
When one adjective follows two coordinated nouns, it normally takes plural agreement. If the nouns have different genders, the adjective is masculine plural in the general standard language.
Han retirat els armaris i les prestatgeries malmesos per la humitat.
They have removed the cupboards and shelves damaged by damp.
That ending can sound momentarily surprising after the nearer feminine plural prestatgeries. In careful prose, rearranging the nouns or repeating the adjective can remove the awkward contact: les prestatgeries malmeses i els armaris malmesos. A prenominal adjective, by contrast, can agree with the first coordinated noun: una extraordinària paciència i domini tècnic. Coordination is genuinely difficult; there is no useful English shortcut because English adjectives do not show the contrast.
Predicate agreement
With ser, estar, quedar, semblar and similar linking verbs, an adjective or participle used as a predicate agrees with the subject. This is clause-level agreement, even if other nouns intervene.
Les investigadores van quedar sorpreses per la rapidesa de la resposta.
The researchers were surprised by how quickly the response came.
El passadís i l'escala continuen tancats mentre duren les obres.
The corridor and the staircase remain closed while the work continues.
In mixed-gender coordination, the conventional unmarked plural is masculine: el passadís i l'escala... tancats. If clarity about people matters, rewriting is often better than treating the masculine plural as the only possible communicative solution: Les investigadores i els investigadors van quedar sorpresos is grammatical (formal), but Tot l'equip de recerca va quedar sorprès may read more smoothly.
Identification clauses with ser have a special pattern. When one nominal is singular and the other plural, the plural nominal commonly controls plural són: La causa principal són les filtracions. The sentence identifies one description with several entities; it is not ordinary adjective agreement.
El problema més urgent són les esquerdes que han aparegut al sostre.
The most urgent problem is the cracks that have appeared in the ceiling.
Participles: two constructions, two rules
Do not treat every participle alike. A passive or adjectival participle agrees obligatorily with the noun or subject it describes. In a compound tense with haver, the participle is normally invariable.
Les actes van ser revisades per dues assessores externes.
The minutes were reviewed by two external advisers.
Les dues assessores han revisat les actes aquest matí.
The two advisers reviewed the minutes this morning.
In the passive, revisades is a predicate of les actes. In han revisat, the participle belongs to a compound tense and does not simply agree with the following object. With a preceding third-person accusative clitic, Catalan also permits—and traditional formal usage favors, especially with feminine forms—agreement such as Les actes, les hem revisades. Contemporary speech varies, and invariable les hem revisat is also widespread. The dedicated participle-agreement page gives the full distribution.
The passive is useful when the affected entity is the discourse topic or the agent is unknown. It should not become an automatic substitute for every reordered active clause: Catalan normally uses clitic resumption, not a passive, to keep an object topic at the left edge.
—Ja teniu les acreditacions? —Sí, les hem deixades damunt la taula de l'entrada.
‘Do you have the passes already?’ ‘Yes, we left them on the table by the entrance.’
This natural exchange also illustrates information structure: les acreditacions is already active, so the answer uses the clitic les. It does not repeat the noun as though Catalan required an English-style full object.
Difficult subjects: collectives and coordination
A collective head such as la majoria, una colla, el grup is morphologically singular, but its meaning evokes several individuals. With la majoria de participants, both singular agreement with the head and plural agreement by meaning occur in contemporary standard Catalan: va votar / van votar. Keep the choice coherent in a passage. If a plural predicate adjective explicitly characterizes the individuals, plural agreement is natural.
La majoria dels excursionistes van arribar xops però contents al refugi.
Most of the hikers reached the shelter soaked but happy.
Two noun phrases joined by i normally form a plural subject: La Joana i en Biel vindran. When two infinitival or clausal activities are understood as one complex situation, singular is usual: Treballar de nit i dormir de dia costa molt. A postverbal coordinated subject may trigger singular in spontaneous speech when the speaker begins before planning the whole list, but plural is the clearest edited choice.
A la inauguració assistiran l'alcaldessa, els arquitectes i diverses entitats del barri.
The mayor, the architects, and several neighborhood organizations will attend the opening.
Compare La Núria amb la Laura coordinen el projecte, where amb can have a coordinating interpretation, with La Núria, amb la Laura, coordina el projecte, where the commas make amb la Laura an accompanying adjunct and singular La Núria remains the subject. Punctuation and agreement jointly signal the intended structure.
Neutral order, reordered clause, and ambiguity
Neutral: Els tècnics revisaran demà les instal·lacions noves. Reordered: Les instal·lacions noves, els tècnics les revisaran demà. The second clause begins with an object topic, resumed by les; it has not become the subject. The verb remains plural because its subject is els tècnics, while noves agrees with instal·lacions.
Les instal·lacions noves, els tècnics les revisaran quan acabi el congrés.
As for the new facilities, the technicians will inspect them when the conference ends.
An attachment ambiguity can obscure agreement: He vist la directora de les escoles preocupades makes preocupades describe the schools, whereas He vist la directora de les escoles preocupada describes the director. Neither version is inherently ungrammatical; the ending diagnoses the attachment. If the intended meaning still feels hard to recover, rewrite: He vist la directora, que estava preocupada, a les escoles.
Common Mistakes
❌ La llista de candidats han arribat aquest matí.
Incorrect — the singular head llista, not the nearby plural candidats, controls the verb.
✅ La llista de candidats ha arribat aquest matí.
The list of candidates arrived this morning.
❌ Les portes del magatzem està oberta encara.
Incorrect — both the verb and predicate adjective must agree with plural feminine portes.
✅ Les portes del magatzem estan obertes encara.
The warehouse doors are still open.
❌ Hem comprades dues taules plegables per al menjador.
Incorrect — a compound participle with haver does not agree with a following full direct object.
✅ Hem comprat dues taules plegables per al menjador.
We bought two folding tables for the dining room.
❌ La Júlia i el seu germà arribarà després de sopar.
Incorrect in neutral edited Catalan — two coordinated noun phrases form a plural subject.
✅ La Júlia i el seu germà arribaran després de sopar.
Júlia and her brother will arrive after dinner.
Check the agreement chain
Correct these forms before looking at the answer: Aquell dues finestres ha quedat oberts. First identify the feminine plural noun, then its determiner, the plural subject–verb link, and the feminine plural predicate. The result is Aquelles dues finestres han quedat obertes. Next decide what preocupades modifies in la portaveu de les famílies preocupades: the plural ending selects famílies; use preocupada for the spokesperson.
Key Takeaways
- Finite verbs agree with subjects in person and number, regardless of position.
- Determiners and adjectives agree with their noun; predicate adjectives and passive participles agree with their subject.
- A compound participle with haver is normally invariable, apart from the variable clitic-linked pattern.
- Coordinated noun phrases generally take plural agreement; collectives and postverbal lists allow genuine variation.
- Never infer the subject from first position or the controller from mere proximity.
Now practice Catalan
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Subject–Verb AgreementA1 — Match Catalan finite verbs to six person–number combinations, omit recoverable subjects, and handle coordinated subjects and polite vostè correctly.
- Adjective AgreementA1 — Learn how Catalan adjectives match a noun in gender and number, including four-form, two-form, and common spelling patterns.
- Agreement with Mixed-Gender and Inclusive GroupsC1 — Handle adjective agreement in mixed-gender groups and choose clear inclusive wording for contemporary Catalan.
- Why the Participle Usually Does Not Agree with HaverB1 — Distinguish the invariable participle in compound tenses from agreement with objects, adjectives, and passive subjects.
- Preverbal and Postverbal SubjectsB1 — How Catalan positions subjects before or after the verb to distinguish established topics, new participants, presentational events, focus, and questions.