Conjugation of posar | Catalan Grammar

Posar means “to put, place, set,” but it also turns on music or a device, assigns a name or price, and moves something into a state. Its pronominal form posar-se is indispensable for putting on clothing, adopting a posture, entering a state, reaching an agreement, and beginning an activity.

Unlike several neighboring high-frequency verbs, posar is morphologically regular. The challenge is choosing between plain and pronominal meanings, placing weak pronouns correctly, and selecting the preposition or predicative complement that the intended construction requires.

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The entire paradigm follows the first-conjugation chain poso – posava – posà – posaré – posi – posés – posat. Do not invent a velar stem or an irregular participle merely because English “put” is irregular.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	posar	to put; to place
Perfect infinitive	haver posat	to have put
Gerund	posant	putting
Perfect gerund	havent posat	having put
Participle	posat; posada, posats, posades	put; placed

After haver, posat is normally invariable: hem posat les caixes al passadís. When it behaves as an adjective or passive/resultative participle, it agrees: les etiquetes estan ben posades. In pronominal posar-se, compound tenses still use haver: s'ha posat l'abric; s'han posat nerviosos.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	poso	poses	posa	posem	poseu	posen
Imperfect	posava	posaves	posava	posàvem	posàveu	posaven
Periphrastic past	vaig posar	vas posar	va posar	vam posar	vau posar	van posar
Simple past	posí	posares	posà	posàrem	posàreu	posaren
Future	posaré	posaràs	posarà	posarem	posareu	posaran
Conditional	posaria	posaries	posaria	posaríem	posaríeu	posarien

Stress shifts regularly: the stem is stressed in poso, poses, posa, and posen, while the ending is stressed in posem and poseu. The imperfect requires accents in posàvem and posàveu. As a first-conjugation verb, posar never takes the third-conjugation incoative extension -eix-; poseixo is impossible. Ordinary conversation uses the periphrastic past; the synthetic past is chiefly (formal/literary) in much Central usage and remains spoken regionally.

Sempre poso les claus al mateix platet quan entro a casa.

I always put the keys in the same little dish when I come home.

Els tècnics posaven una lona sobre l'escenari cada vegada que plovia.

The technicians used to put a tarpaulin over the stage whenever it rained.

Anit vam posar el rentaplats abans d'anar a dormir.

Last night we ran the dishwasher before going to bed.

Demà posarem una taula plegable al costat de la finestra.

Tomorrow we'll put a folding table next to the window.

Compound tenses and subjunctive

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

Subjunctive tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	posi	posis	posi	posem	poseu	posin
Imperfect	posés	posessis	posés	poséssim	poséssiu	posessin
Present perfect	hagi posat	hagis posat	hagi posat	hàgim posat	hàgiu posat	hagin posat
Pluperfect	hagués posat	haguessis posat	hagués posat	haguéssim posat	haguéssiu posat	haguessin posat

First- and second-person plural posem, poseu are identical in present indicative and present subjunctive; the clause identifies the mood. Compare asserted Sé que poseu música and desired Vull que poseu música. The imperfect-subjunctive accent falls on -és-.

No vull que posis aquesta capsa damunt dels cables.

I don't want you to put this box on top of the cables.

Si hi haguéssim posat una prestatgeria, ara tindríem més espai lliure.

If we had put a shelf there, we would have more free space now.

Three additional periphrastic rows complete the reference. The subjunctive rows have restricted (regional/formal) distribution; everyday Catalan normally uses posés and hagués posat.

Periphrastic tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Indicative past anterior	vaig haver posat	vas haver posat	va haver posat	vam haver posat	vau haver posat	van haver posat
Subjunctive past	vagi posar	vagis posar	vagi posar	vàgim posar	vàgiu posar	vagin posar
Subjunctive past anterior	vagi haver posat	vagis haver posat	vagi haver posat	vàgim haver posat	vàgiu haver posat	vagin haver posat

Imperative and weak pronouns

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	posa	no posis
vostè	posi	no posi
nosaltres	posem	no posem
vosaltres	poseu	no poseu
vostès	posin	no posin

Affirmative commands attach weak pronouns: posa-la, posa-hi sucre, poseu-vos l'abric. Negative commands place the cluster before the verb: no la posis, no hi posis sucre, no us poseu l'abric. With an ordinary location, hi can replace the place: Posa els gots a l'armari → Posa-hi els gots. Partitive en can replace an indefinite quantity: Posa'n dos a cada taula.

—On poso les ampolles buides? —Posa-les al costat del contenidor verd.

—Where should I put the empty bottles? —Put them next to the green recycling bin.

No hi posis sal fins que hàgim tastat la salsa.

Don't put salt in it until we've tasted the sauce.

Poseu-vos-hi de seguida, que només tenim quaranta minuts.

Get started on it right away; we only have forty minutes.

Plain posar and pronominal posar-se

Plain posar moves an object to a location or state: posar el llibre al calaix; posar la llet a la nevera; posar nerviós algú. The object that changes state remains the direct object. Posar-se makes the subject enter a state or act on itself: posar-se nerviós; posar-se dret; posar-se una jaqueta. Predicative adjectives agree with the subject: ella s'ha posat nerviosa; ells s'han posat contents.

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Track who changes: La notícia posa nerviosa la Marta affects an object, but La Marta es posa nerviosa makes Marta the subject of the change and therefore requires se.

Quan ha sentit el seu nom, la candidata s'ha posat molt nerviosa.

When she heard her name, the candidate became very nervous.

With clothing, posar-se means putting an item on, while portar describes wearing it as a state. Em poso les botes is the action; porto les botes is the resulting attire. The garment is a direct object, so it can combine with the reflexive pronoun: Me les poso.

Posar-se a + infinitive marks the beginning of an activity: es va posar a riure. The following verb must be an infinitive, never a gerund. Other fixed pronominal constructions include posar-se d'acord “reach agreement,” posar-se en contacte amb “contact,” and posar-se de part de “side with.” Removing se changes or destroys these meanings.

Després de discutir una estona, ens vam posar d'acord en tres canvis concrets.

After arguing for a while, we agreed on three specific changes.

La criatura es va posar a riure quan el gos va esternudar.

The child burst out laughing when the dog sneezed.

Placement, devices, and collocations

Posar is the broad, neutral placement verb. Ficar often foregrounds insertion or entry into an interior, but actual distribution varies regionally and the two overlap in everyday speech. Col·locar suggests deliberate positioning or arrangement. Use posar as the ordinary broad choice, while learning local preferences from real usage rather than declaring every instance of ficar wrong.

The verb also starts media or appliances (posar música, posar la ràdio, posar una rentadora), sets values (posar un preu, posar una data), and creates abstract relations (posar en dubte, posar en relleu, posar fi a). The complement is part of the collocation.

Posa una mica de música mentre acabem de preparar el sopar.

Put on some music while we finish preparing dinner.

L'informe posa en relleu la manca de transport públic als pobles petits.

The report highlights the lack of public transport in small towns. (formal)

(Regional: Valencian) first-person present pose and the corresponding -e subjunctive system are standard Valencian forms. (Regional: Balearic) a zero-ending first person pos occurs. General poso/posi remains the teaching baseline here; regional systems are internally regular, not mistakes.

Common Mistakes

❌ He ponut els documents dins la carpeta blava.

Incorrect—the Catalan participle is regular posat, not an English- or Spanish-shaped form.

✅ He posat els documents dins la carpeta blava.

I've put the documents inside the blue folder.

❌ La Marta ha posat nerviós abans de l'entrevista.

Incorrect for a change in the subject's state—posar-se is required, with feminine agreement.

✅ La Marta s'ha posat nerviosa abans de l'entrevista.

Marta became nervous before the interview.

❌ S'han posat a discutint al mig del passadís.

Incorrect—posar-se a selects an infinitive, not a gerund.

✅ S'han posat a discutir al mig del passadís.

They started arguing in the middle of the corridor.

❌ No posa't aquesta camisa si encara és humida.

Incorrect—negative commands place the reflexive pronoun before a subjunctive form.

✅ No et posis aquesta camisa si encara és humida.

Don't put on this shirt if it's still damp.

❌ Quan arribi la directora, posar la presentació a la pantalla.

Incorrect as a direct command—an infinitive cannot replace the ordinary singular imperative here.

✅ Quan arribi la directora, posa la presentació a la pantalla.

When the director arrives, put the presentation on the screen.

Key Takeaways

Posar is regularly conjugated: poso, posi, posés, posat. Plain posar affects an object; lexical posar-se often changes the subject's state, clothing, posture, or activity. Attach pronouns to affirmative commands and place them before negative ones. Learn posar-se a + infinitive and frequent collocations as complete constructions.

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