Conjugation of llegir

Llegir means “to read,” whether the object is a novel, a message, a score, a map, or a situation interpreted figuratively. In Central Catalan it follows the incoative third-conjugation pattern in the present system: llegeixo, llegeixes, llegeix..., but llegim, llegiu. The remaining tenses, gerund llegint, and participle llegit are regular.

Its principal parts are llegeixo – llegia – llegí – llegiré – llegeixi – llegís – llegit. Keeping them together shows exactly where -eix- belongs. The written sequence tg is not used: standard forms retain ll and g, as in llegir, llegim, and llegit. The same distribution is introduced on the incoative third-conjugation page.

Nonfinite forms

All compound tenses use haver + llegit. The participle is normally invariable after haver: he llegit les cartes. It agrees adjectivally or in a passive: una obra molt llegida; els noms llegits en veu alta. The colloquial completive construction llegir-se un llibre is discussed below; its pronoun precedes finite auxiliaries (me l'he llegit) and attaches to infinitives and gerunds (llegir-me'l; llegint-me'l).

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

In the present, llegim and llegiu lack the incoative extension because stress falls on the ending. The same spellings also serve as present subjunctive and imperative forms. In the simple past, first- and third-person llegí are identical in writing. The simple past is generally (formal/literary) in Central Catalan, though regionally it remains a spoken tense; the periphrastic past is neutral conversation.

Indicative compound tenses

The past anterior is mainly (formal/literary). Its periphrastic counterpart is vaig haver llegit, vas haver llegit, va haver llegit, vam haver llegit, vau haver llegit, van haver llegit. A direct-object pronoun comes before the auxiliary: He llegit l'article → L'he llegit.

Subjunctive: simple and compound

The present subjunctive mirrors the indicative's incoative distribution. English “I want you to read it” uses an infinitive after an object; Catalan normally has que plus a finite subjunctive: Vull que ho llegeixis. No accent is written on llegeixi.

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

Imperative and clitics

Affirmative commands attach pronouns (llegeix-lo, llegiu-me'l); negative commands place them before the verb (no el llegeixis, no me'l llegiu). Indicative llegeix and familiar imperative llegeix are homographs.

Objects, recipients, sources, and completive llegir-se

The text or signs interpreted are a direct object: llegir un llibre, el comptador, els llavis, una partitura. No preposition intervenes, and a definite object becomes el, la, els, or les. A recipient is indirect: llegir un conte als nens; llegir-los un conte. English “read the children a story” disguises this role, but Catalan marks it with a or a dative clitic.

The source in which information appears takes a locative phrase: ho he llegit al diari, en un informe, a la pantalla. A topic can be introduced by sobre: llegir sobre astronomia. Do not transfer sobre to the direct text itself: one reads l'article, but reads sobre el canvi climàtic.

Characteristic collocations include llegir en veu alta, llegir entre línies, llegir de cap a cap, and ser de bon/mal llegir. Figurative llegir entre línies means recovering an implication rather than merely decoding words.

Pronominal llegir-se is common (informal) as a completive or affected-person construction: M'he llegit la novel·la en una nit presents the whole book as fully consumed. Plain He llegit la novel·la is neutral and may or may not emphasize completion. The pronoun is therefore meaningful and cannot be added or removed with no effect; in formal prose, the plain transitive construction is often preferred.

(Regional: Valencian) llegisc and llig are standard first-person variants; llegixes/llegix or lliges/llig, subjunctive llegisca... or llija..., and imperfect llegira... occur in standard Valencian. (Regional: Balearic) llegesc/llig and related variants occur. (Regional: Northwestern) llegixo is available beside general forms. Central llegeixo / llegeixi is the teaching baseline.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

Anchor the paradigm with llegeixo, llegim, llegint, llegiré, llegeixi, llegís, and llegit. Keep -eix- in the stressed present cells only. The text is a direct object, the person hearing a reading is indirect, and topics often take sobre. Use completive llegir-se deliberately, not as a free substitute for neutral llegir.