A clause normally has a finite verb, but Catalan can place a subject-like noun phrase beside a predicate without a second finite verb: Consideren la proposta viable contains the relation “the proposal is viable,” and Vam trobar la porta oberta contains “the door was open.” This embedded relation is often called a small clause (academic). Closely related secondary predicates describe a participant during or as a result of the main event.
English uses comparable patterns, but it also permits resultatives that Catalan does not copy word for word. The reliable questions are: which participant does the secondary predicate describe, does it express a state during the event or a result caused by it, and where does agreement point? The prerequisite distinction between selected participants and optional modifiers is developed under arguments and adjuncts.
Object plus predicate: a clause without tense
Verbs of judgment, perception, and discovery can select a unit made of a noun phrase and a nonfinite predicate:
[Main clause La comissió considera [Small clause la proposta viable]]
La comissió considera la proposta viable, però encara no l'ha aprovada.
The committee considers the proposal viable, but it has not approved it yet.
Tothom considerava en Miquel incapaç d'amagar una notícia així.
Everyone considered Miquel incapable of hiding news like that.
The adjective predicates something of the object; it is not an adverb describing how the committee considers or how everyone believes. This becomes clear when the object is replaced by a clitic:
La proposta, la consideren viable fins i tot els auditors externs.
The proposal — even the external auditors consider it viable.
En Miquel, el consideraven incapaç d'amagar una notícia així.
Miquel — they considered him incapable of hiding news like that.
The clitics la and el realize the object argument; viable and incapaç remain predicates of that understood referent. Fronting la proposta creates a left-dislocated topic and therefore requires resumptive la. It does not turn the initial noun phrase into the subject.
Adjectival predicates agree when their form distinguishes gender or number:
Els revisors consideren insuficients les garanties presentades.
The reviewers consider the guarantees provided insufficient.
The marked order places insuficients before its plural subject les garanties inside the small clause. It is natural in (formal) evaluative prose but heavier than consideren les garanties presentades insuficients. Agreement, not adjacency, identifies the relation.
Trobar: discovery, not necessarily causation
With trobar plus object plus adjective or participle, the usual reading is that the object is discovered in a state:
En tornar de vacances, vam trobar la porta oberta i els llums encesos.
When we came back from holiday, we found the door open and the lights on.
This does not say that finding caused the door to open. The state holds when perception or discovery occurs. Compare a finite complement, which foregrounds a proposition rather than an immediate perceived state:
Vam trobar que la porta no tancava bé i vam avisar el manyà.
We found that the door did not close properly, so we called the locksmith.
In speech, trobar que also expresses an opinion: Trobo que és massa car “I think it is too expensive.” That is a finite complement, not the small-clause pattern.
Depictives: a state during the event
A depictive secondary predicate says what a participant is like while the main event unfolds. It can be oriented toward the subject or the object:
La Clara va arribar esgotada després de dotze hores de viatge.
Clara arrived exhausted after twelve hours of travel. (subject-oriented depictive)
Els nens es van menjar les pastanagues crues mentre preparàvem el sopar.
The children ate the carrots raw while we were preparing dinner. (object-oriented depictive)
In the first, feminine singular esgotada identifies la Clara as its subject. In the second, feminine plural crues identifies les pastanagues, not els nens. Compare an adverb, which describes the manner of the action rather than a participant:
La Clara va respondre tranquil·la, tot i la pressió.
Clara answered while calm, despite the pressure. (state of Clara)
La Clara va respondre tranquil·lament, sense apujar la veu.
Clara answered calmly, without raising her voice. (manner of answering)
The adjective agrees; the -ment adverb does not. The meanings often overlap in practice, but the syntax differs. Depictives normally express a temporary or event-relevant state. A classifying adjective is less natural unless context gives it such a reading.
Resultatives: Catalan is more restricted than English
A resultative says that the main event brings about the secondary state. Catalan readily uses verbs whose lexical meaning already includes causation or a resulting state:
La restauradora va deixar la superfície completament llisa.
The restorer left the surface completely smooth.
Han pintat de blau les portes del magatzem.
They have painted the warehouse doors blue.
The first has [la superfície + llisa]; de blau in the second conventionally expresses the resulting color. Catalan does not productively attach any adjective to any activity verb as English can. English “They hammered the sheet flat” is naturally recast with a result verb:
❌ Van martellejar la planxa plana.
Incorrect as a direct calque meaning that hammering made the sheet flat.
✅ Van aplanar la planxa a cops de martell.
They hammered the sheet flat. (literally: they flattened the sheet with hammer blows)
The rejected sentence is not repaired merely by agreement. Without a licensed resultative construction, plana tends to be interpreted as an awkward depictive (“the sheet was flat while they hammered it”). Catalan instead lexicalizes the result with aplanar or uses fins a deixar...: Van martellejar la planxa fins a deixar-la plana.
Agreement reveals the controller
Agreement is often the best safeguard against ambiguous attachment:
La Júlia va servir el peix freda.
Júlia served the fish while she was cold. (feminine subject-oriented reading)
La Júlia va servir el peix fred.
Júlia served the fish cold. (masculine object-oriented reading)
In writing, these forms clearly distinguish the controller. If both participants share gender and number, context must decide: La Júlia va veure la Maria preocupada may mean that Júlia was worried or that Maria looked worried. Word order produces a bias toward the nearby object, not a categorical solution. Rewrite the sentence:
La Júlia, que estava preocupada, va veure la Maria a urgències.
Júlia, who was worried, saw Maria in the emergency department.
La Júlia va veure que la Maria estava preocupada.
Júlia saw that Maria was worried.
These finite clauses make the intended predication explicit. A comma should not be used as a magical ambiguity cure; it must mark a real detached or parenthetical constituent.
A passive such as La Maria va ser vista preocupada per la Júlia can foreground Maria, but it also changes the information structure and remains stylistically heavy. Catalan normally resolves this ambiguity with the finite paraphrases above rather than using a passive merely to force one noun into subject position.
Clitics and information structure
When an object is a familiar topic, Catalan can detach it and resume it with a clitic while leaving its predicate in the clause:
—I la sala gran? —L'hem trobada buida, però molt bruta.
—And the large room? —We found it empty, but very dirty.
The dialogue is natural (informal/neutral spoken) Catalan. Feminine trobada may show object-participle agreement in careful use, while buida and bruta obligatorily identify the feminine referent. The important syntax here is la as the object and the adjectives as its predicates.
Predicate fronting is possible for contrast but markedly rhetorical:
Inviable, no la considero; arriscada, sí.
I don't consider it unviable; risky, yes. (contrastive predicate fronting)
This (formal or emphatic) order cannot be treated as neutral SVO. Intonation supplies strong focus, and the object clitic still connects the judgment to the accessible proposal.
Common Mistakes
Using an adverb where participant agreement is required
❌ Les corredores van arribar ràpidament de cansament.
Incorrect for ‘the runners arrived exhausted’ — the adverb describes manner and the phrase is ill formed.
✅ Les corredores van arribar esgotades de cansament.
The runners arrived exhausted.
Agreeing the depictive with the wrong noun
❌ Van servir les ostres freds.
Incorrect — the predicate describes feminine plural ostres.
✅ Van servir les ostres fredes.
They served the oysters cold.
Omitting the resumptive clitic after left dislocation
❌ Aquesta candidata, consideren molt preparada.
Incorrect in the intended topic construction — the detached object lacks its clitic.
✅ Aquesta candidata, la consideren molt preparada.
This candidate — they consider her very well prepared.
Copying a productive English resultative
❌ El nen va riure adormit el seu germà.
Incorrect calque of ‘the child laughed his brother to sleep.’
✅ El nen va fer adormir el seu germà amb les seves rialles.
The child sent his brother to sleep with his laughter.
Key Takeaways
Small clauses contain a noun phrase and a predicate without their own tense. Depictives describe a participant during an event; resultatives describe a state caused by it. Catalan adjective agreement exposes the controller, object clitics preserve argument relations under dislocation, and finite paraphrases resolve genuine ambiguity. Above all, do not assume that every English object-plus-adjective resultative has a Catalan structural twin.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
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- Object Position and Clitic ResumptionB1 — How Catalan distinguishes neutral postverbal objects, dislocated topics, contrastive focus, clitic resumption, and heavy-object placement.
- The Weak-Pronoun DomainB2 — Master how Catalan weak pronouns choose a verbal host, form ordered clusters, climb within verb chains, and interact with negation.
- Past Participles as AdjectivesB1 — Use past participles as agreeing adjectives for resultant states and distinguish them from perfect tenses and eventive passives.
- Ser or Estar plus ParticipleB1 — Distinguish the eventive passive with ser from the resultant state with estar by tracking events, states, agreement, agents, and viewpoint.
- Participial ClausesB2 — Compress anterior, passive, and result relations in Catalan participial clauses while controlling agreement, subject reference, and formal style.