Caure means “to fall,” literally or figuratively: a person falls, rain falls, a government falls, a date falls on a weekday, or someone comes across as likeable. Its irregularity is distributed across a memorable set of principal parts: caic – queia – caiguí – cauré – caigui – caigut. English speakers must also resist a Spanish-shaped reflexive: standard Catalan says he caigut and m'ha caigut el got, not m'he caigut or se m'ha caigut el got.
Nonfinite forms
| Form | Catalan | English guide |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | caure | to fall |
| Perfect infinitive | haver caigut | to have fallen |
| Gerund | caient | falling |
| Perfect gerund | havent caigut | having fallen |
| Participle | caigut; caiguda, caiguts, caigudes | fallen |
The gerund is caient, with i, not caugent or caiguent. In compound tenses caigut does not agree: les fulles han caigut. It agrees when adjectival: les fulles caigudes. (Regional: Valencian) standard usage also admits gerund caent.
Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses
| Tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | caic | caus | cau | caiem | caieu | cauen |
| Imperfect | queia | queies | queia | quèiem | quèieu | queien |
| Periphrastic past | vaig caure | vas caure | va caure | vam caure | vau caure | van caure |
| Simple past | caiguí | caigueres | caigué | caiguérem | caiguéreu | caigueren |
| Future | cauré | cauràs | caurà | caurem | caureu | cauran |
| Conditional | cauria | cauries | cauria | cauríem | cauríeu | caurien |
The imperfect spelling queia preserves the inherited pronunciation; caïa is not standard. Accents in quèiem and quèieu mark stress. The simple past is chiefly (formal/literary) in much Central Catalan, while vaig caure is the normal spoken completed past. Compare the system on the irregular imperfect page.
Cada tardor cauen tantes fulles que el desguàs queda embussat.
Every autumn so many leaves fall that the drain gets blocked.
Quan sortíem de l'escola, queia una pluja fina i persistent.
When we were leaving school, a fine, persistent rain was falling.
La prestatgeria va caure de matinada, però per sort no hi havia ningú.
The shelving unit fell during the night, but fortunately nobody was there.
Indicative: compound tenses
| Tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present perfect | he caigut | has caigut | ha caigut | hem caigut | heu caigut | han caigut |
| Pluperfect | havia caigut | havies caigut | havia caigut | havíem caigut | havíeu caigut | havien caigut |
| Past anterior | haguí caigut | hagueres caigut | hagué caigut | haguérem caigut | haguéreu caigut | hagueren caigut |
| Future perfect | hauré caigut | hauràs caigut | haurà caigut | haurem caigut | haureu caigut | hauran caigut |
| Conditional perfect | hauria caigut | hauries caigut | hauria caigut | hauríem caigut | hauríeu caigut | haurien caigut |
Compound tenses use haver, not ser, and the participle stays fixed. The past anterior is mainly (formal/literary). Because caure describes a change of position or state, its perfect often presents a visible result, but that semantics does not change the auxiliary.
Han caigut tres teules al pati i hem acordonat la zona.
Three roof tiles have fallen into the courtyard, and we've cordoned off the area.
El servidor ja havia caigut dues vegades abans de l'actualització.
The server had already gone down twice before the update.
Subjunctive and restricted periphrastic forms
| Tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | caigui | caiguis | caigui | caiguem | caigueu | caiguin |
| Imperfect | caigués | caiguessis | caigués | caiguéssim | caiguéssiu | caiguessin |
| Present perfect | hagi caigut | hagis caigut | hagi caigut | hàgim caigut | hàgiu caigut | hagin caigut |
| Pluperfect | hagués caigut | haguessis caigut | hagués caigut | haguéssim caigut | haguéssiu caigut | haguessin caigut |
The velar stem is complete and stable throughout the subjunctive. Do not transfer present indicative cau into a clause that requires caigui. English usually leaves “fall” unchanged after expressions of fear or possibility; Catalan overtly marks the mood.
Aparta el test de la vora perquè no caigui al carrer.
Move the flowerpot away from the edge so it doesn't fall into the street.
Si hagués caigut una mica més de neu, haurien tancat el port.
If a little more snow had fallen, they would have closed the mountain pass.
For completeness, the periphrastic past anterior is vaig/vas/va/vam/vau/van haver caigut. The periphrastic subjunctive past is vagi/vagis/vagi/vàgim/vàgiu/vagin caure, and its anterior adds haver caigut. These are (regional/formal) rather than general conversational choices.
Imperative and weak pronouns
| Addressee | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tu | cau | no caiguis |
| vostè | caigui | no caigui |
| nosaltres | caiguem | no caiguem |
| vosaltres | caieu | no caigueu |
| vostès | caiguin | no caiguin |
Literal affirmative commands to fall are rare outside stage directions, jokes, or (literary) personification. Negative commands are practical and frequent. With hi, affirmative placement is cau-hi and negative placement is no hi caiguis.
No hi caiguis: aquest missatge només vol que revelis la contrasenya.
Don't fall for it: that message only wants you to reveal your password.
Plain caure is intransitive and not pronominal in standard Catalan. In M'ha caigut el got, el got is the grammatical subject and em marks the person affected. Adding Spanish-like se produces a transfer error. Similarly, hi he caigut can mean “I fell into it” or “I fell for it”; hi stands for a complement, not part of the infinitive.
M'han caigut les claus entre l'ascensor i la porta del replà.
I dropped my keys between the lift and the landing door.
Complements and characteristic idioms
Use caure a terra for the endpoint “to the ground,” caure de + source for where the fall begins, and caure en + trap/error/state for entering a literal or figurative situation. With a person as indirect object, caure bé/mal means “make a good/bad impression on someone,” not “fall well/badly.”
El Martí em queia mal al principi, però treballant plegats ens hem entès molt bé.
I disliked Martí at first, but working together we've got on very well.
La data límit cau en diumenge i l'han ajornada fins dilluns.
The deadline falls on a Sunday, so they've postponed it until Monday.
Caure pel seu propi pes means that a claim collapses under its own logic; caure-hi means to understand suddenly or fall into a trap; deixar caure can mean drop physically or mention casually.
No hi vaig caure fins que vaig comparar les dues signatures.
It didn't dawn on me until I compared the two signatures.
Regional standards and homophony
(Regional: Valencian) admits caem, caeu, gerund caent, and present subjunctive caiga, caigues, caiga, caiguem, caigueu, caiguen; caiguera... is a standard imperfect subjunctive. (Regional: Balearic) plural presents include queim, queis. Northwestern forms largely align with the baseline while admitting regional imperfect-subjunctive endings. The table's Central forms are suitable for general teaching. The form cau is also a noun meaning an animal's den or a small hideout; an article (un cau) and sentence structure prevent confusion.
Common Mistakes
❌ M'he caigut davant de l'estació perquè la vorera relliscava.
Incorrect Spanish transfer—standard Catalan caure is not pronominal.
✅ He caigut davant de l'estació perquè la vorera relliscava.
I fell outside the station because the pavement was slippery.
❌ Se m'ha caigut el mòbil dins l'aigüera.
Incorrect—the affected dative is enough; do not add reflexive se.
✅ M'ha caigut el mòbil dins l'aigüera mentre rentava els plats.
I dropped my phone into the sink while I was washing the dishes.
❌ Ahir caïa una pluja molt espessa a la carretera.
Incorrect imperfect stem—the standard form is queia.
✅ Ahir queia una pluja molt espessa al tram de la carretera de muntanya.
Yesterday heavy rain was falling on the mountain stretch of the road.
❌ Em preocupa que el preu cau encara més aquest hivern.
Incorrect after an expression of concern—the dependent possibility takes caigui.
✅ Em preocupa que el preu caigui encara més aquest hivern.
I'm worried that the price may fall even further this winter.
Key Takeaways
Memorize caic, queia, caiguí, cauré, caigui, and caigut as a connected family. Use haver in compound tenses, keep the participle invariable there, and treat caure as nonpronominal. Clitics such as em and hi represent an affected participant or complement; they never turn the citation form into caure's.
Now practice Catalan
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Velar Stems in the PresentA2 — Learn the Catalan verb family whose first-person present ends in a velar consonant, as in bec, dic, duc, tinc, and vinc.
- Irregular Imperfect FormsA2 — Master the contracted Catalan imperfects deia, feia, veia, duia, seia, and reia, including their stress and spelling.
- The Simple Past: Irregular StemsC1 — Recognize the most frequent irregular Catalan simple-past stems, including fou, feu, digué, tingué, and vingué.
- Weak Pronouns with Affirmative CommandsA2 — Learn where Catalan weak pronouns go in affirmative commands and how hyphens, apostrophes, stress, and pronoun clusters work.
- Conjugation of creureB1 — Complete contemporary conjugation of creure, with its crec/cregu-/creur- stem family, the participle cregut, and the contrasts among creure, creure en, and creure's.