A verb describes a situation and determines which participants belong to it. Those selected participants are its arguments. Extra details such as time, manner, purpose, and many locations are adjuncts: they describe the circumstances but are not selected by that particular verb meaning.
The distinction explains why Catalan learners must memorize dependre de, confiar en, and renunciar a, but can add dilluns, amb calma, or després de classe to thousands of verbs. It also helps you choose the clitics en and hi and read dictionary patterns intelligently. The inventory on verb complements supplies more selected-preposition patterns.
Valency: how many places a verb opens
Valency is the argument pattern associated with a verb sense. Compare three simple frames:
| Frame | Catalan example | Arguments |
|---|---|---|
| Subject + verb | La criatura dorm. | Sleeper |
| Subject + verb + object | La criatura obre la capsa. | Agent, thing opened |
| Subject + verb + object + recipient | La criatura dona la clau a l'avi. | Giver, thing given, recipient |
La criatura dorm profundament al sofà.
The child is sleeping deeply on the sofa.
La criatura is the one argument of dormir. Profundament and al sofà add manner and place; they can be removed without changing the basic kind of sleeping event.
La criatura dona la clau a l'avi després de dinar.
The child gives the key to Grandpa after lunch.
With donar, la clau and a l'avi express roles built into “giving”: something passes to someone. Després de dinar merely locates the event in time. The verb agrees with its subject, not with the nearest phrase: Les criatures donen la clau a l'avi.
Arguments are selected by a particular meaning
It is not enough to memorize one valency for each spelling of a verb. Different senses can select different frames:
La Jana passa cada matí per aquesta plaça.
Jana passes through this square every morning.
La Jana passa els apunts a la seva companya.
Jana passes the notes to her classmate.
The movement sense combines naturally with a route; the transfer sense selects a direct object and a recipient. Cada matí is an adjunct in either sentence. Dictionaries therefore list constructions by sense, often with abbreviations such as intr. (intransitive), tr. (transitive), and patterns like dependre d'algú o d'alguna cosa.
Selected prepositions are not freely interchangeable
Some arguments are noun phrases without a preposition; others are prepositional complements whose preposition is selected by the head.
Encara depenem del proveïdor antic.
We still depend on the old supplier.
La directora confia en el seu equip.
The director trusts her team.
En Biel ha renunciat a la plaça.
Biel has given up the position.
English uses on after depend but a bare object after both trust and give up. Catalan must be learned on its own terms: dependre de, confiar en, renunciar a. There is no fully logical shortcut; selected prepositions are lexical information.
Clitic replacement often confirms the Catalan pattern:
Encara en depenem, però ja busquem alternatives.
We still depend on it, but we're already looking for alternatives.
La directora hi confia plenament.
The director trusts them/it completely.
En commonly replaces a de complement, while hi replaces many nonhuman complements headed by a, en, or another preposition. With people, tonic forms are common after the preposition—confia en elles—especially when the person is contrastive or needs to be identified clearly. The exact clitic is determined by the construction, not by English it or them.
Adjuncts are productive and repeatable
Adjuncts answer open questions such as quan?, on?, com?, per què?, and amb quina finalitat? They are often optional and can be stacked:
La Salma va redactar l'informe ahir a la biblioteca amb molta cura per evitar més errors.
Salma drafted the report yesterday in the library very carefully to avoid further errors.
L'informe is the selected direct object of redactar. The remaining phrases add time, place, manner, and purpose. Their relative mobility is typical:
Ahir, a la biblioteca, la Salma va redactar l'informe amb molta cura.
Yesterday, at the library, Salma drafted the report very carefully.
The fronted adjuncts establish a frame; neither is the subject. The subject is la Salma, which controls va redactar. Punctuation separates long frames for readability, but it does not change their grammatical relation.
Arguments are less freely repeated. A clause can have several time adjuncts—ahir, a les sis, després de classe—but not normally several competing direct objects for one occurrence of redactar.
Optional does not always mean adjunct
Omission is a useful test, but not a definition. Catalan often leaves an argument unexpressed when context makes it understood:
—Ja has menjat? —Sí, he menjat a la feina.
—Have you eaten already? —Yes, I ate at work.
Menjar can take a food object, but the object is not required when the activity or an understood meal is meant. A la feina remains a place adjunct. Conversely, some adjuncts are highly expected for communicative reasons even though the verb does not select them: L'acte començarà... needs a time in an announcement, but that practical need is not the same as lexical valency.
Another revealing contrast uses posar in the meaning “put”:
La Laia ha posat els gots a l'armari.
Laia has put the glasses in the cupboard.
In this sense, the destination a l'armari completes the placement relation. La Laia ha posat els gots sounds incomplete unless the location is already understood or posar has another contextual meaning. With rentar, by contrast, place is merely circumstantial: La Laia ha rentat els gots (a la cuina).
Practical diagnostics
No one test is perfect, so combine several.
| Question | Argument tendency | Adjunct tendency |
|---|---|---|
| Does the head select this role or preposition? | Yes: dependre de | No: time can modify many heads |
| Does omission make this sense incomplete? | Often | Usually not |
| Can several be stacked? | Usually limited by valency | Often: time + place + manner |
| Does a dictionary record the frame? | Usually | Usually not under that verb sense |
| Can a clitic resume it? | Often, according to its relation | Some locative adjuncts also take hi |
The final row shows why clitic replacement is evidence, not proof: Hi viu can resume the selected residence location of viure or simply a discourse location, depending on the analysis.
Topics, clitics, and argument relations
When an argument is detached as a left topic, its role inside the clause is normally resumed:
D'aquella incidència, ja n'hem informat la responsable.
As for that incident, we've already informed the person in charge about it.
The topic begins with de, and n' preserves that complement relation. An English speaker may be tempted to omit the clitic because the topic already names the referent, but Catalan dislocation contains both a detached topic and a complete clause.
A la nova normativa, ens hi adaptarem de mica en mica.
As for the new regulations, we'll adapt to them little by little.
Here hi resumes the complement selected by adaptar-se a. The initial phrase is not a subject; the omitted subject is nosaltres, recoverable from ens adaptarem.
Argument or adjunct? Diagnose an ambiguity
La metgessa va parlar amb la infermera de la pacient nova.
The doctor spoke with the nurse about the new patient. / The doctor spoke with the new patient's nurse.
The phrase de la pacient nova can attach to the verb parlar as its topic argument—“speak about”—or inside the noun phrase la infermera de la pacient nova. The words and agreement allow both bracketings:
- [va parlar amb la infermera] [de la pacient nova];
- va parlar [amb [la infermera de la pacient nova]].
For the first reading, write La metgessa i la infermera van parlar de la pacient nova. For the second, write La metgessa va parlar amb la infermera que atenia la pacient nova. Reordering, a new coordination, or a relative clause makes attachment explicit; a comma alone would not reliably solve it.
A natural dialogue
—Has escrit «confiem amb el nou gestor»? —Sí; en anglès dic «trust the manager» sense preposició. —En català és «confiem en el nou gestor». Aprèn el verb amb el seu complement: «confiar en».
—Did you write 'we trust with the new manager'? —Yes; in English I say 'trust the manager' without a preposition. —In Catalan it's 'confiem en el nou gestor.' Learn the verb with its complement: 'confiar en.'
The correction is lexical, not a general translation rule. Parlar amb uses amb for an interlocutor, but confiar selects en. Similar meanings do not guarantee the same frame.
Register and regional perspective
The argument–adjunct distinction belongs to all Catalan varieties. Everyday choices of pronoun or whether to express a complement can vary by region and register, but learners can use the shared standard frames taught here across Central Catalan, Valencian, Balearic, Northwestern, Northern, and Alguerese contexts.
In (formal) writing, do not delete a required complement merely to make a sentence shorter. At the same time, avoid agentive passives copied from English when an active clause states the argument structure more directly:
❌ La proposta va ser discutida l'equip durant dues hores.
Incorrect — the passive cannot attach its agent as a bare noun phrase.
✅ L'equip va discutir la proposta durant dues hores.
The team discussed the proposal for two hours.
The passive La proposta va ser discutida per l'equip is grammatical, but the active version is clearer when the team's action is the point.
Common Mistakes
❌ Tot depèn la resposta del client.
Incorrect — 'dependre' selects a complement with 'de'.
✅ Tot depèn de la resposta del client.
Everything depends on the client's answer.
❌ La directora hi confia en el seu equip.
Incorrect in neutral standard Catalan — the complement is expressed twice without a dislocation or contrastive reason.
✅ La directora confia plenament en el seu equip.
The director fully trusts her team.
❌ A la plaça, els turistes són el complement directe perquè apareixen després del lloc.
Incorrect analysis — position after an initial place phrase does not determine objecthood.
✅ A la plaça, els turistes esperen l'autobús.
In the square, the tourists are waiting for the bus.
❌ D'aquest assumpte, parlarem demà.
Incorrect as ordinary topic dislocation — the selected 'de' complement needs 'en'.
✅ D'aquest assumpte, en parlarem demà.
As for this matter, we'll talk about it tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
- Arguments express roles selected by a particular head and meaning; adjuncts add productive circumstances.
- Memorize selected prepositions as part of the verb frame.
- Optionality is only one clue: understood arguments may be omitted, and useful adjuncts may be communicatively necessary.
- Combine dictionary frames, completeness, repeatability, and clitic behavior when diagnosing a phrase.
- Reordering a complement as a topic does not erase its relation; the appropriate clitic normally resumes it.
Now practice Catalan
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Phrases, Heads, and DependentsA2 — Recognize Catalan noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and prepositional phrases by finding their heads and testing them as units.
- Transitive and Intransitive ClausesA2 — Identify Catalan subjects and objects through verb valency, and use omitted arguments, clitics, and reordered constituents accurately.
- Ditransitive ClausesA2 — Express transfers and messages with a theme, a recipient, indirect-object clitics, and discourse-sensitive constituent order.
- Prepositions Selected by VerbsB1 — Learn high-frequency Catalan verb–preposition patterns, the meaning contrasts they encode, and how to read and remember dictionary government.
- En for De-ComplementsB1 — Use en to replace complements selected by de after verbs, adjectives, and nouns, while respecting focus and extraction limits.
- Hi for Prepositional ComplementsB1 — Use hi to resume known complements governed by a, en, amb, or per without confusing them with direct and indirect objects.