Excloure means “to exclude, rule out, leave out.” It is common in administrative and academic prose (excloure una candidatura), medicine (excloure una infecció), and ordinary decisions (no excloc cap opció). Unlike English “exclude,” it can therefore describe not only barring someone but also eliminating a hypothesis from consideration.
It belongs to the irregular cloure family. Its principal parts are excloc – excloïa – excloguí – exclouré – exclogui – exclogués – exclòs. The family is compact once learned: present exclo-, hiatus-bearing excloï-, velar exclogu-, future exclour- and participle exclòs. It is not an incoative verb, despite the temptation to imitate Spanish excluir.
Nonfinite forms
| Form | Catalan | English guide |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | excloure | to exclude / rule out |
| Perfect infinitive | haver exclòs | to have excluded |
| Gerund | excloent | excluding / ruling out |
| Perfect gerund | havent exclòs | having excluded |
| Participle | exclòs; exclosa, exclosos, excloses | excluded |
The gerund is excloent, not excluint or excloguent. In compound tenses, exclòs remains masculine singular: les han exclòs. As an adjective or in a passive construction it agrees: una despesa exclosa; dues persones excloses. The accent appears only in masculine singular exclòs.
Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses
| Tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | excloc | exclous | exclou | excloem | excloeu | exclouen |
| Imperfect | excloïa | excloïes | excloïa | excloíem | excloíeu | excloïen |
| Periphrastic past | vaig excloure | vas excloure | va excloure | vam excloure | vau excloure | van excloure |
| Simple past | excloguí | exclogueres | exclogué | excloguérem | excloguéreu | exclogueren |
| Future | exclouré | exclouràs | exclourà | exclourem | excloureu | exclouran |
| Conditional | exclouria | exclouries | exclouria | exclouríem | exclouríeu | exclourien |
The diaeresis in excloïa separates o and i. In excloíem and excloíeu, the written acute accent already marks the stressed hiatus, so a diaeresis is unnecessary. The simple past is mainly (formal/literary) in Central Catalan; the periphrastic past is neutral in conversation. Some Valencian varieties retain the simple past more actively (regional: Valencian).
No excloc cap proposta abans d'haver-la llegit sencera.
I am not ruling out any proposal before reading it in full.
L'antiga normativa excloïa els treballadors temporals d'aquest ajut.
The old regulations excluded temporary workers from this grant.
El comitè va excloure dues candidatures perquè faltava documentació.
The committee excluded two applications because documentation was missing.
No exclourem aquesta ruta fins que sapiguem quin temps farà.
We will not rule out this route until we know what the weather will be like.
Compound tenses with haver
| Indicative tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present perfect | he exclòs | has exclòs | ha exclòs | hem exclòs | heu exclòs | han exclòs |
| Pluperfect | havia exclòs | havies exclòs | havia exclòs | havíem exclòs | havíeu exclòs | havien exclòs |
| Past anterior | haguí exclòs | hagueres exclòs | hagué exclòs | haguérem exclòs | haguéreu exclòs | hagueren exclòs |
| Future perfect | hauré exclòs | hauràs exclòs | haurà exclòs | haurem exclòs | haureu exclòs | hauran exclòs |
| Conditional perfect | hauria exclòs | hauries exclòs | hauria exclòs | hauríem exclòs | hauríeu exclòs | haurien exclòs |
The synthetic past anterior is (formal/literary). Its periphrastic counterpart is vaig/vas/va/vam/vau/van haver exclòs, also restricted. Everyday speech generally chooses the present perfect, pluperfect, or ordinary periphrastic past according to time reference.
Els metges ja han exclòs una causa cardíaca, però continuaran fent proves.
The doctors have already ruled out a cardiac cause, but they will continue testing.
Si no haguéssim exclòs aquella dada, el resultat hauria estat diferent.
If we had not excluded that datum, the result would have been different.
Subjunctive and imperative
| Subjunctive tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | exclogui | excloguis | exclogui | excloguem | exclogueu | excloguin |
| Imperfect | exclogués | excloguessis | exclogués | excloguéssim | excloguéssiu | excloguessin |
| Present perfect | hagi exclòs | hagis exclòs | hagi exclòs | hàgim exclòs | hàgiu exclòs | hagin exclòs |
| Pluperfect | hagués exclòs | haguessis exclòs | hagués exclòs | haguéssim exclòs | haguéssiu exclòs | haguessin exclòs |
| Addressee | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tu | exclou | no excloguis |
| vostè | exclogui | no exclogui |
| nosaltres | excloguem | no excloguem |
| vosaltres | excloeu | no exclogueu |
| vostès | excloguin | no excloguin |
The restricted periphrastic subjunctives are vagi/vagis/vagi/vàgim/vàgiu/vagin excloure and vagi... haver exclòs. They are (regional/formal) rather than ordinary conversational forms. Object pronouns attach after an affirmative imperative (exclou-la) but precede a negative one (no l'excloguis).
La normativa exigeix que excloguem qualsevol despesa sense factura.
The regulations require us to exclude any expense without a receipt.
No l'excloguis de la conversa només perquè discrepa de tu.
Do not exclude her from the conversation just because she disagrees with you.
Meanings, complements, and clitics
The ordinary frame is excloure X de Y: X is the direct object and de Y names the group, benefit, process, or set from which X is removed. A human direct object does not automatically receive Spanish-style personal a: han exclòs la Jana de l'equip. With a known direct object, use el, la, els, or les: l'han exclosa is possible with participle agreement in formal styles, while invariant l'han exclòs is the broad neutral pattern described under compound participles.
El jurat l'ha exclòs del concurs per incomplir les bases.
The jury has excluded him from the competition for breaching the rules.
When the de-complement is understood, en can represent it: No en podem excloure ningú “We cannot exclude anyone from it.” In passive-like clauses, se suppresses the agent: S'exclouen els impostos del preu anunciat. These are real syntactic functions; they do not make excloure's a freely interchangeable citation form. Reflexive excloure's is possible only when the subject excludes itself: L'entitat s'ha exclòs del procés.
D'aquest recompte no en podem excloure els vots emesos per correu.
We cannot exclude postal votes from this count.
With possibilities, causes, or diagnoses, excloure often means “rule out”: no excloure que + subjunctive keeps an outcome open rather than asserting it. By contrast, descartar is a close everyday synonym; excloure is especially natural when membership, eligibility, or systematic elimination is foregrounded. The two are not always interchangeable: excloure algú d'un club is literal membership, while descartar una hipòtesi is often the idiomatic choice for rejecting a hypothesis.
(Regional: Valencian) standard forms include present subjunctive excloga, exclogues, excloga, excloguem, exclogueu, excloguen and imperfect excloguera.... Central exclogui / exclogués is the baseline here. The core forms excloc, excloïa, excloent, and exclòs are shared by the major standards.
Common Mistakes
❌ La beca exclueix els estudiants que ja reben un altre ajut.
Incorrect—excloure is not incoative; the present form is exclou.
✅ La beca exclou els estudiants que ja reben un altre ajut.
The scholarship excludes students who already receive another grant.
❌ Han excluït aquesta possibilitat massa aviat.
Incorrect—the participle is exclòs, not excluït.
✅ Han exclòs aquesta possibilitat massa aviat.
They have ruled out this possibility too early.
❌ El protocol excloia les persones menors de setze anys.
Incorrect—the hiatus in excloïa requires a diaeresis.
✅ El protocol excloïa les persones menors de setze anys.
The protocol excluded people under sixteen.
❌ Van excloure a la portaveu de la reunió.
Incorrect in this neutral order—do not add personal a before the human direct object.
✅ Van excloure la portaveu de la reunió.
They excluded the spokesperson from the meeting.
❌ La comissió s'ha exclòs tres sol·licituds incompletes.
Incorrect—the ordinary transitive verb takes no reflexive pronoun here.
✅ La comissió ha exclòs tres sol·licituds incompletes.
The committee has excluded three incomplete applications.
Key Takeaways
Build the paradigm from excloc, excloïa, exclogu-, exclour- and exclòs. Use excloure X de Y, preserve the irregular participle in every compound tense, and distinguish direct-object clitics from source-set en. Do not import Spanish excluir forms or turn ordinary transitive excloure into a pronominal verb.
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