Conjugation of créixer

Créixer means “to grow”: a child grows, a plant grows, a town expands, prices rise, and confidence develops. It is normally intransitive, so the entity undergoing growth is the subject. English can use “grow” transitively in “grow the business,” but Catalan generally uses fer créixer when an outside agent causes the increase.

The paradigm is best learned as a family of principal parts: creixo – creixia – creixí/cresquí – creixeré – creixi – creixés/cresqués – crescut. The alternation between creix- and velar cresc-/cresqu- is genuine and partly optional in the standard; the velar-stem guide places that alternation in the wider system. The infinitive has an accent, créixer, but the future and conditional do not: creixeré, creixeria, because stress moves to the ending.

Nonfinite forms

Compound tenses use haver + crescut: ha crescut, havien crescut. The participle remains invariable in these forms. Adjectival agreement is possible in lexicalized or descriptive uses, though Catalan often prefers a clause: uns arbres molt crescuts “very mature/tall trees.” The gerund creixent keeps ix and never takes an additional incoative extension.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

The two synthetic-past series are both normative. They should be used coherently rather than mixed within one paradigm. In Central speech the periphrastic past is the unmarked choice; the simple past is often (formal/literary), with stronger regional spoken use. Present creix is also the familiar affirmative imperative, so syntax and intonation distinguish statement from command.

Although creix visibly contains -eix, créixer is not an incoative third-conjugation verb. The sequence belongs to its lexical second-conjugation stem. Forms such as creixeixo and creixeixem add an extension that the verb does not have.

Indicative compound tenses

The past anterior is predominantly (formal/literary). Its periphrastic equivalent is vaig haver crescut, vas haver crescut, va haver crescut, vam haver crescut, vau haver crescut, van haver crescut. A locative weak pronoun precedes the auxiliary: Va créixer en aquesta casa → Hi va créixer.

Subjunctive: simple and compound

Central standard allows creixem/creixeu and velar cresquem/cresqueu in the present subjunctive; the nonvelar series is a clear teaching baseline. Both complete imperfect-subjunctive series are standard. English “we want the project to grow” uses an infinitive, whereas Catalan normally uses a finite subjunctive after volem que: volem que el projecte creixi.

These periphrastic subjunctive forms are restricted (regional/formal).

Imperative

Because créixer normally describes an uncontrolled or gradual process, commands are less frequent than statements, but the forms are fully available.

The negative imperative follows the present subjunctive. Positive creix is formally identical to third-person present creix. Attached weak pronouns are unusual because créixer is intransitive; locative hi normally precedes a finite form rather than behaving as a reflexive ending.

Intransitive syntax, measures, and caused growth

With créixer, the growing entity is the subject: els nens creixen; creix l'economia. There is no ordinary direct object. To express an agent causing growth, use fer créixer + direct object: La nova línia ha fet créixer les vendes. English allows “the campaign grew the audience,” but Catalan requires this causative construction or a verb such as augmentar.

Complements measuring gradual increase are normally bare: ha crescut deu centímetres; les vendes han crescut un quinze per cent. In the measurement sense, avoid automatically inserting en or de before the amount. By contrast, en may be genuinely locative (créixer en un entorn bilingüe) or mark a dimension in a construction such as créixer en confiança.

Common collocations include créixer de pressa, créixer a bon ritme, créixer com bolets “spring up like mushrooms,” and créixer com a persona. Fer-se gran often means “grow up / get older,” while créixer focuses more directly on development or increase.

Standard Catalan normally uses créixer nonpronominally. Spanish crecerse ante las dificultades should not be mechanically copied as créixer-se; natural Catalan uses encoratjar-se, animar-se, or agafar ànim, depending on the intended nuance. Therefore no reflexive pronoun belongs in ordinary el nen creix or l'empresa creix.

(Regional: Valencian) first-person present cresc, present subjunctive cresca, cresques, cresca, creixem/cresquem, creixeu/cresqueu, cresquen, and imperfect cresquera... are standard. (Regional: Balearic) cresc and both creixi/cresqui families occur. (Regional: Northwestern) velar alternatives have their own distribution. Central creixo / creixi is the baseline, with the standard alternatives shown in the tables.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

Organize the verb around creixo, creixia, creixí/cresquí, creixeré, creixi, creixés/cresqués, and crescut. The accent belongs to infinitive créixer but not future creixeré. The verb is intransitive; use fer créixer for caused growth. Quantitative increase normally takes a bare measure, and ordinary créixer is not pronominal.