Conjugation of respondre | Catalan Grammar

Respondre means “to answer, reply, or be accountable.” Its principal parts are responc – responem – responia – responguí – respondré – respongui – respost. The consonant families matter: respon- carries most present and imperfect forms, respong- marks the velar past and subjunctive, respondr- appears in future and conditional, and respost is the irregular participle. The verb is not defective; every person is available.

Unlike English, Catalan permits both respondre una pregunta and respondre a una pregunta when the complement denotes the question. If the complement is the answer itself, it is direct: Li he respost que sí. The person addressed normally appears with a or as an indirect-object clitic.

💡

Remember responc, responem, respongui, respondré, respost. The velar stem belongs in subjunctives and the simple past, but not in the future.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	respondre	to answer
Perfect infinitive	haver respost	to have answered
Gerund	responent	answering
Perfect gerund	havent respost	having answered
Participle	respost; resposta, respostos or resposts, respostes	answered

Both masculine plurals respostos and resposts are standard. In compound tenses the participle is normally invariable: les preguntes que han respost. With a preceding third-person accusative clitic, agreement is also standard and is especially maintained in formal and agreement-preserving regional usage: les preguntes, ja les han respostes. Agreement also appears in adjectival or passive uses: una carta resposta amb presses, though ordinary prose often prefers another wording. Do not confuse feminine participle resposta with the very common noun resposta, “answer”; context and syntax distinguish them.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	responc	respons	respon	responem	responeu	responen
Imperfect	responia	responies	responia	responíem	responíeu	responien
Periphrastic past	vaig respondre	vas respondre	va respondre	vam respondre	vau respondre	van respondre
Simple past	responguí	respongueres	respongué	responguérem	responguéreu	respongueren
Future	respondré	respondràs	respondrà	respondrem	respondreu	respondran
Conditional	respondria	respondries	respondria	respondríem	respondríeu	respondrien

The second-person present is respons; its final -s is the person ending, not part of the stem. Conversational narration strongly favors the periphrastic past. The simple past is standard but generally (formal/literary) in Central Catalan and varies in spoken frequency by region.

Sempre responc els correus urgents abans de començar la reunió.

I always answer urgent emails before starting the meeting.

Quan li preguntàvem pel viatge, responia amb evasives.

When we asked him about the trip, he used to answer evasively.

La tècnica va respondre totes les preguntes sense consultar cap nota.

The technician answered every question without consulting any notes.

Et respondré demà quan hagi comprovat les dades.

I'll reply to you tomorrow once I've checked the data.

Compound indicative

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

The simple past anterior is (literary). Its periphrastic counterpart has vaig haver respost, vas haver respost, va haver respost, vam haver respost, vau haver respost, van haver respost and is also restricted. For ordinary speech, the present perfect, pluperfect and periphrastic past cover nearly all practical needs.

Encara no m'han respost, però la sol·licitud consta com a rebuda.

They still haven't replied to me, but the application is recorded as received.

Ja havíeu respost correctament abans que el moderador donés la pista.

You had already answered correctly before the host gave the clue.

Subjunctive: simple and compound tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	respongui	responguis	respongui	responguem	respongueu	responguin
Imperfect	respongués	responguessis	respongués	responguéssim	responguéssiu	responguessin
Present perfect	hagi respost	hagis respost	hagi respost	hàgim respost	hàgiu respost	hagin respost
Pluperfect	hagués respost	haguessis respost	hagués respost	haguéssim respost	haguéssiu respost	haguessin respost

(Regional: Valencian) standard forms include present responga, respongues, responga, responguem, respongueu, responguen and imperfect responguera, respongueres, responguera, responguérem, responguéreu, respongueren. Central Catalan supplies the table's baseline. Other major varieties preserve the same stem architecture while selecting their regional subjunctive endings.

Necessitem que respongueu abans de divendres per reservar les places.

We need you to reply before Friday so we can reserve the places.

Si m'haguessis respost amb franquesa, hauríem resolt el malentès abans.

If you had answered me frankly, we would have resolved the misunderstanding sooner.

For completeness, the restricted (regional/formal) periphrastic subjunctive has vagi respondre, vagis respondre, vagi respondre, vàgim respondre, vàgiu respondre, vagin respondre. Its anterior is vagi haver respost, vagis haver respost, vagi haver respost, vàgim haver respost, vàgiu haver respost, vagin haver respost. Everyday usage prefers respongués and hagués respost.

Imperative and clitic position

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	respon	no responguis
vostè	respongui	no respongui
nosaltres	responguem	no responguem
vosaltres	responeu	no respongueu
vostès	responguin	no responguin

The person answered is often an indirect object, hence respon-me, responeu-li in affirmative commands and no em responguis, no li respongueu in negative ones. Plain respondre is not freely reflexive: do not add se merely because English says “answer for oneself.”

Respon-me quan puguis; no cal que ho decideixis ara mateix.

Reply to me when you can; you don't have to decide right now.

No li responguis de mala manera encara que estiguis enfadat.

Don't answer him rudely even if you're angry.

What is answered, and how

When the complement represents a question or issue, both a direct construction and a are standard: respondre aquesta pregunta; respondre a aquesta pregunta. When it represents the content of the reply, it is direct: Li vaig respondre que arribaria tard. With a person, use a or an indirect clitic: respondre a la directora; respondre-li. The weak-pronoun system makes this distinction visible.

El portaveu no va voler respondre a la pregunta sobre el pressupost.

The spokesperson did not want to answer the question about the budget.

Li vaig respondre que preferia parlar-ne l'endemà.

I replied to her that I preferred to discuss it the next day.

The construction respondre de means being accountable for someone or something, especially (formal) administrative or legal contexts: L'empresa respon dels danys. Respondre a can also mean matching a description or reacting to a stimulus: El resultat respon a les expectatives; el pacient respon al tractament. These uses are not interchangeable with pronominal correspondre's.

La direcció haurà de respondre dels errors detectats durant l'auditoria.

Management will have to answer for the errors found during the audit.

La pacient respon bé al nou tractament i ja dorm millor.

The patient is responding well to the new treatment and is already sleeping better.

💡

For a question, both respondre la pregunta and respondre a la pregunta are standard. For the words supplied as the answer, use them directly: li va respondre que no.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jo respondeixo els missatges al vespre.

Incorrect—respondre is not incoative; use responc.

✅ Jo responc els missatges al vespre.

I answer messages in the evening.

❌ Dubto que respondran avui.

Incorrect after doubt about a present or future event; use the subjunctive responguin.

✅ Dubto que responguin avui.

I doubt they'll reply today.

❌ Encara no han respondut la nostra queixa.

Incorrect participle—respondre forms respost.

✅ Encara no han respost la nostra queixa.

They still haven't answered our complaint.

❌ Respon-me'n què penses abans de marxar.

Incorrect clitic choice when the reply is a clause; say respon-me què penses.

✅ Respon-me què penses abans de marxar.

Tell me what you think before you leave.

❌ L'empresa es respon dels defectes del producte.

Incorrect—respondre de in the sense of being liable is not pronominal.

✅ L'empresa respon dels defectes del producte.

The company is liable for defects in the product.

Key Takeaways

Organize respondre around responc, responem, respongui, respondré, and respost. Questions permit direct or a-introduced complements; the content of a reply is direct, and the addressee is indirect. Use respondre de for accountability and avoid invented incoative or reflexive forms.

Now practice Catalan

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Catalan →