Proverb: Qui Dia Passa, Any Empeny

Qui dia passa, any empeny is a traditional Catalan proverb about getting through life one day at a time. Its compact line compresses an indefinite person, two objects without articles, two generic present-tense verbs, and a judgment that can sound patient, weary, or ironic. An English translation must therefore convey the attitude, not merely replace each word.

The complete text and translation

Qui dia passa, any empeny.

Literal scaffold: “Whoever gets a day past pushes a year onward.”

Idiomatic translation: “Just getting through each day keeps the year moving.” Depending on context, “One day at a time” or “He just muddles through from day to day” may convey the speaker’s intention better.

This is a traditional, anonymous saying in the public domain. Its wording is fixed enough to quote as a unit, although speakers sometimes introduce it with com diu la dita (“as the saying goes”).

Read-aloud version

Read it in two balanced groups, with a small pause at the comma:

Qui dia passa / any empeny.

Give the main beat to dia, passa, any, and empeny. The final stressed sound of empeny gives the second half a decisive close. Passa and empeny do not make a perfect end rhyme; the proverb's memorability comes more from its balanced syntax, repeated -a-/-ny sonority, and compact rhythm than from a strict poetic rhyme.

The lexical words can be heard as eight syllables. In a quicker delivery, the adjacent vowels in passa, any may coalesce, producing a seven-syllable rhythm; a deliberate pause at the comma keeps them separate. The proverb therefore has rhythmic flexibility rather than one obligatory poetic meter.

Numbered annotation

1. Qui: a free relative

Here qui does not ask a question. It is a free relative pronoun meaning “the person who” or, more naturally in this generic context, “whoever.” There is no expressed antecedent such as la persona. The entire first clause, qui dia passa, identifies a type of person and serves as the understood subject of the second clause too.

The first example states a habitual generalization in the indicative. The second refers to an as-yet-unidentified person and therefore uses the subjunctive vulgui. In the proverb, the speaker presents the pattern as an observed truth, so both verbs are present indicative: passa and empeny. See free relatives for that mood contrast.

2. dia passa: object before verb in compressed proverbial syntax

In ordinary prose, passar un dia can mean “to get through/spend a day.” The proverb omits un and puts the bare object dia before passa. The subject remains qui. It is useful not to mislabel dia as the subject merely because it comes before the verb: the person denoted by qui is the one doing the “passing.” A fuller paraphrase makes the roles visible:

The marked object–verb order contributes to the saying's parallel rhythm. Contemporary conversation would normally use qui passa un dia outside this fixed expression. Proverbs preserve compressed structures because brevity and balance make them memorable.

3. any empeny: a fronted object and an omitted subject

The second half has no overt subject pronoun. Catalan normally omits a recoverable subject, and here it is still generic qui: “[that person] pushes the year onward.” Any is again a bare, fronted object; neutral prose would say empeny un any or, more idiomatically, fa avançar l'any.

The verb empènyer literally means “to push.” Its third-person singular present is empeny, without a written accent. The image is figurative: surviving another day nudges the whole year forward. English cannot retain that exact metaphor without sounding unusual, which is why an idiomatic translation needs more than a word-for-word gloss.

Outside the fixed proverb, va tirant (“keeps going/gets by”) or fa avançar (“moves forward”) is generally more natural than inventing a new temporal object for empènyer.

4. Why there are no articles

Ordinary Catalan usually counts a single day or year with an indefinite article and refers to a known year with a definite one: un dia, un any, l'any. The proverb strips both nouns down to dia and any. This article ellipsis makes them measure-like units rather than particular calendar periods: day after day, year as accumulated time.

Do not generalize the omission to normal prose. Compare article ellipsis, where professions, headlines, lists, and fixed expressions follow their own patterns.

5. The generic present and the proverb's stance

The present indicative can describe what is happening now, but here it has a gnomic or generic value: the speaker presents a recurring human pattern. Changing the tense turns the saying into a report about a particular event.

That sentence is a past narrative, not a maxim. The proverb's present creates distance from any one occasion and lets the speaker apply it to work, health, money, or an unambitious way of living.

Pragmatic tone: not simply motivational

The saying is (informal) or neutral conversational Catalan. At its most encouraging, it says that overcoming each day's small difficulties is already progress toward the whole task. In another common use, it carries resignation or mild criticism: someone is merely letting time pass, without plans or enthusiasm. Intonation and context decide whether the attitude is practical, sympathetic, self-mocking, or reproachful.

• Encouraging or sympathetic: said about somebody advancing by handling one difficult day at a time.
• Self-deprecating: said by a speaker who admits to improvising.
• Critical or ironic: said about somebody who avoids long-term responsibility.

The second example is plainly critical, whereas the first can be heard as practical persistence. Translating every occurrence as an upbeat “seize the day” would still reverse the proverb's logic: progress comes from getting through the immediate difficulty, not from celebrating bold action.

Regional and stylistic reach

The form Qui dia passa, any empeny belongs to the shared Catalan proverbial tradition and is understood beyond the Central Catalan area. The standard written wording does not require a specifically Valencian, Balearic, Northwestern, Northern, or Alguerese spelling. Actual familiarity and pronunciation vary by speaker and locality, as they do with all proverbs; that is not evidence for a different grammatical analysis.

In careful writing, capitalize only the first word unless the proverb begins a title. In running text, qui dia passa, any empeny uses a helpful rhetorical comma; dictionary citation also occurs without the comma, qui dia passa any empeny. The words and their order are fixed, but punctuation conventions do not create two different proverbs. A newspaper column may use it as a headline, but that is a stylistic reuse of an (informal/figurative) saying, not formal administrative language.

Common Mistakes

English speakers often regularize the proverb until its rhythm or meaning disappears.

Comprehension and transformation practice

1. Who is the understood subject of empeny?
2. Are dia and any definite calendar periods here, or generic units of time?
3. Which reading is more plausible in a complaint about a government: energetic optimism or critical resignation?
4. Expand qui into a noun phrase without changing the core reference.
5. Rewrite the idea as neutral prose with ordinary articles and word order.

Suggested answers: (1) the generic person denoted by qui; (2) generic units; (3) critical resignation; (4) la persona que; (5) for example, La persona que passa un dia fa avançar una mica l'any. The paraphrase explains the grammar, but it is not itself the traditional saying.

Key Takeaways

• Qui is a free relative meaning “whoever/the person who,” not an interrogative.
• Dia and any are bare objects in compact proverbial syntax; the subject carries over into the second clause.
• The present indicative gives the saying a generic, recurring value.
• Its force ranges from patient progress to resignation or mild irony—not a universal invitation to be adventurous.
• Quote the fixed wording exactly, but use ordinary article and word order patterns in new prose.