Conjugation of entendre | Catalan Grammar

Entendre means “to understand, hear clearly, or interpret.” Its principal parts are entenc – entenem – entenia – entenguí – entendré – entengui – entès. The pattern is shared by several verbs in -tendre: the first-person present ends in -c, the velar family uses -g-, the future restores -dr-, and the participle is irregular. It is not defective; all six persons are current.

English “understand” covers much of the same ground, but Catalan distinguishes plain entendre, expertise expressed by entendre-hi, and reciprocal or communicative entendre's. Keeping the pronouns is essential because changing them changes the construction, not merely the emphasis.

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Use the small family entenc, entenem, entengui, entendré, entès as your memory spine. Forms such as enteneixo are impossible: this verb never takes the incoative extension.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	entendre	to understand
Perfect infinitive	haver entès	to have understood
Gerund	entenent	understanding
Perfect gerund	havent entès	having understood
Participle	entès; entesa, entesos, enteses	understood

With haver, entès is normally invariable: les instruccions que hem entès. With a preceding third-person accusative clitic, agreement is also standard and is especially maintained in formal and agreement-preserving regional usage: les instruccions, ja les hem enteses. It also agrees when adjectival or passive: una observació mal entesa; unes normes ben enteses. The accent in singular masculine entès marks the stressed open vowel; plural masculine entesos has no accent under ordinary stress rules.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	entenc	entens	entén	entenem	enteneu	entenen
Imperfect	entenia	entenies	entenia	enteníem	enteníeu	entenien
Periphrastic past	vaig entendre	vas entendre	va entendre	vam entendre	vau entendre	van entendre
Simple past	entenguí	entengueres	entengué	entenguérem	entenguéreu	entengueren
Future	entendré	entendràs	entendrà	entendrem	entendreu	entendran
Conditional	entendria	entendries	entendria	entendríem	entendríeu	entendrien

The present contrasts entenc with the second-person entens and accented third-person entén. The plural forms keep enten-. The periphrastic past is neutral in conversation; the simple past is standard but mainly (formal/literary) in Central Catalan. Future and conditional use entendr- rather than the velar stem.

No t'entenc gaire bé perquè hi ha molt soroll al carrer.

I can't understand you very well because there's a lot of noise in the street.

De petits no enteníem per què l'avi guardava totes aquelles eines.

As children, we didn't understand why Grandpa kept all those tools.

Quan vaig veure el rebut, vaig entendre d'on venia l'error.

When I saw the receipt, I understood where the error came from.

Amb un esquema més clar, entendríeu la proposta de seguida.

With a clearer outline, you would understand the proposal immediately.

Compound indicative

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present perfect	he entès	has entès	ha entès	hem entès	heu entès	han entès
Pluperfect	havia entès	havies entès	havia entès	havíem entès	havíeu entès	havien entès
Past anterior	haguí entès	hagueres entès	hagué entès	haguérem entès	haguéreu entès	hagueren entès
Future perfect	hauré entès	hauràs entès	haurà entès	haurem entès	haureu entès	hauran entès
Conditional perfect	hauria entès	hauries entès	hauria entès	hauríem entès	hauríeu entès	haurien entès

The past anterior is (literary). The complete periphrastic anterior is vaig haver entès, vas haver entès, va haver entès, vam haver entès, vau haver entès, van haver entès; it is grammatically available but uncommon. In ordinary conversation, speakers usually choose ja ho havia entès or simply ho vaig entendre.

Ara sí que he entès per què la reunió s'ha ajornat.

Now I finally understand why the meeting has been postponed.

La Júlia ja havia entès la indirecta i va canviar de tema.

Júlia had already taken the hint and changed the subject.

Subjunctive: simple and compound tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	entengui	entenguis	entengui	entenguem	entengueu	entenguin
Imperfect	entengués	entenguessis	entengués	entenguéssim	entenguéssiu	entenguessin
Present perfect	hagi entès	hagis entès	hagi entès	hàgim entès	hàgiu entès	hagin entès
Pluperfect	hagués entès	haguessis entès	hagués entès	haguéssim entès	haguéssiu entès	haguessin entès

(Regional: Valencian) standard present forms are entenga, entengues, entenga, entenguem, entengueu, entenguen; the imperfect also has entenguera, entengueres, entenguera, entenguérem, entenguéreu, entengueren. The Central -i forms above provide the course baseline. These are genuine regional standards, not more or less correct versions of one another.

T'ho dibuixo perquè entenguis com encaixen les dues peces.

I'll draw it for you so that you understand how the two pieces fit together.

Si haguéssim entès l'avís, no hauríem entrat per aquella porta.

If we had understood the notice, we wouldn't have gone through that door.

For completeness, restricted (regional/formal) periphrastic subjunctive forms are vagi entendre, vagis entendre, vagi entendre, vàgim entendre, vàgiu entendre, vagin entendre. The anterior replaces the infinitive with haver entès: vagi haver entès ... vagin haver entès. Everyday usage normally prefers entengués and hagués entès.

Imperative

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	entén	no entenguis
vostè	entengui	no entengui
nosaltres	entenguem	no entenguem
vosaltres	enteneu	no entengueu
vostès	entenguin	no entenguin

Commands with entendre are often requests for empathy rather than literal orders to comprehend: entén-me. Affirmative pronouns follow the verb; negative pronouns precede it: entén-ho bé but no ho entenguis malament. The acute accent distinguishes imperative entén from many unaccented forms and records its stress.

Entén-me: no rebutjo la idea, només necessito més temps.

Try to understand me: I'm not rejecting the idea; I just need more time.

No ho entengueu com una crítica personal; parlo del procés.

Don't take it as personal criticism; I'm talking about the process.

Entendre, entendre-hi, and entendre's

Plain entendre takes what is comprehended as a direct object, often replaced by ho: Ho entens? No ho he entès. Entendre-hi means having expertise or being able to make sense of a domain: No hi entenc, d'electricitat. The locative-looking hi is part of this construction and should not be dropped. Entendre's amb algú means communicating successfully or getting along; reciprocal s'entenen can also indicate mutual understanding and, in some contexts, a romantic relationship (informal). The broader pronominal-verb guide explains why these clitics belong to the construction.

D'ordinadors antics, la Berta hi entén molt més que jo.

Berta knows much more about old computers than I do.

Tot i pensar diferent, els dos socis s'entenen prou bé.

Although they think differently, the two partners get along quite well.

Amb la mascareta posada no em faig entendre per telèfon.

With the mask on, I can't make myself understood over the phone.

Another high-frequency construction is donar a entendre, “to imply”: Va donar a entendre que plegaria. The phrase tenir entès que means “to be under the impression that” and uses the agreed-looking participle in a fixed predicative construction.

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Ask what role the pronoun plays: ho entenc = “I understand it”; hi entenc = “I know about it”; ens entenem = “we understand one another / get along.” They are not free stylistic variants.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jo entendeixo la teoria, però no la sé aplicar.

Incorrect—entendre is not incoative; its first-person present is entenc.

✅ Jo entenc la teoria, però no la sé aplicar.

I understand the theory, but I don't know how to apply it.

❌ Vull que entens bé les condicions abans de signar.

Incorrect—the subordinate clause requires the present subjunctive entenguis.

✅ Vull que entenguis bé les condicions abans de signar.

I want you to understand the conditions clearly before signing.

❌ No he entendut què em demanaves.

Incorrect participle—use entès, not entendut.

✅ No he entès què em demanaves.

I didn't understand what you were asking me.

❌ De mecànica no entenc gens.

Incorrect for the expertise construction, which requires hi.

✅ De mecànica no hi entenc gens.

I don't know anything about mechanics.

❌ No l'entenc, això que em dius.

Incorrect clitic for neuter propositional content—use ho, not el or l'.

✅ No ho entenc, això que em dius.

I don't understand what you're telling me.

Key Takeaways

Base the conjugation on entenc, entenem, entengui, entendré, and entès. Use ho for understood content, hi for expertise, and reflexive/reciprocal clitics with entendre's. Keep the velar stem out of future entendr- and never add incoative -eix-.

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