Conjugation of seure | Catalan Grammar

Seure is the intransitive verb “to sit, be sitting.” Its principal parts are sec – seiem – seia – seguí – seuré – segui – segut. The alternation is closely parallel to creure and riure: a short velar first person, vowel-final plural forms, a seg- subjunctive and simple-past family, and a seur- future. It is not defective and does not take -eix-.

The syntax matters as much as the endings. Standard Catalan distinguishes intransitive seure from transitive asseure “seat somebody” and pronominal asseure's “sit down.” English uses “sit” for all three, and Spanish sentar(se) encourages the same collapse; Catalan does not.

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Learn sec – seiem – seia – seguí – seuré – segui – segut. The g belongs to the velar family, but the gerund is seient, not seguent.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	seure	to sit / be sitting
Perfect infinitive	haver segut	to have sat
Gerund	seient	sitting
Perfect gerund	havent segut	having sat
Participle	segut; seguda, seguts, segudes	sat

With haver, segut is invariable. Do not confuse it with assegut, the participle and everyday state adjective associated with asseure: està asseguda al banc. Catalan often describes a continuing posture with estar assegut and reserves seure for the lexical event or situation; this is one reason word-for-word transfer from English “is sitting” is unreliable.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	sec	seus	seu	seiem	seieu	seuen
Imperfect	seia	seies	seia	sèiem	sèieu	seien
Periphrastic past	vaig seure	vas seure	va seure	vam seure	vau seure	van seure
Simple past	seguí	segueres	segué	seguérem	seguéreu	segueren
Future	seuré	seuràs	seurà	seurem	seureu	seuran
Conditional	seuria	seuries	seuria	seuríem	seuríeu	seurien

The present seu is homographic with the possessive seu (“his/her/their”) and with a noun meaning “seat/headquarters”; sentence structure resolves the ambiguity. Present seiem has no accent, whereas imperfect sèiem does. Future and conditional preserve the full infinitive stem seur-.

Sempre sec a prop de la porta perquè baixo a la primera parada.

I always sit near the door because I get off at the first stop.

Quan treballàvem junts, sèiem a la mateixa taula cada migdia.

When we worked together, we sat at the same table every lunchtime.

Com que no hi havia cadires lliures, vam seure a terra.

Since there were no free chairs, we sat on the floor.

The periphrastic past is neutral in conversation. The synthetic simple past is standard but is often (formal/literary) in Central Catalan; use varies by region.

Compound tenses and subjunctive

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

Subjunctive tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	segui	seguis	segui	seguem	segueu	seguin
Imperfect	segués	seguessis	segués	seguéssim	seguéssiu	seguessin
Present perfect	hagi segut	hagis segut	hagi segut	hàgim segut	hàgiu segut	hagin segut
Pluperfect	hagués segut	haguessis segut	hagués segut	haguéssim segut	haguéssiu segut	haguessin segut

The velar spelling gu preserves the hard consonant before e/i. (Regional: Valencian) standard present-subjunctive forms are sega, segues, sega, seguem, segueu, seguen, and the -ra imperfect (seguera, segueres...) is standard and widespread. Other major varieties preserve the same principal-part architecture, with regional subjunctive alternatives.

La fisioterapeuta recomana que seguis amb l'esquena ben recolzada.

The physiotherapist recommends that you sit with your back well supported.

No havia segut mai a primera fila en un concert tan gran.

I had never sat in the front row at such a big concert.

Si haguéssim segut a l'ombra, no hauríem passat tanta calor.

If we had sat in the shade, we wouldn't have been so hot.

The three following periphrastic rows complete the reference. The subjunctive periphrases are restricted (regional/formal) in contemporary use.

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

Imperative and the locative hi

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	seu	no seguis
vostè	segui	no segui
nosaltres	seguem	no seguem
vosaltres	seieu	no segueu
vostès	seguin	no seguin

A place headed by en, a or another locative expression can be represented by hi: Seu en aquesta cadira → Seu-hi. The pronoun follows an affirmative command but precedes a negative one: seieu-hi; no hi seguis. See the full locative hi pattern.

Seu aquí un moment i digues-me exactament què ha passat.

Sit here for a moment and tell me exactly what happened.

Aquesta cadira balla; no hi seguis fins que l'hàgim arreglada.

This chair wobbles; don't sit on it until we've fixed it.

Seure, asseure, and asseure's

Seure is intransitive: its subject is the person who sits, and it cannot take that person as a direct object. Asseure algú is transitive “seat someone.” Asseure's is pronominal and highlights beginning to sit or taking a seat. The everyday command asseu-te therefore belongs to asseure's, while seu belongs to seure. The pronoun in asseure's is part of that lexical construction; it cannot simply disappear when that meaning is intended.

Van asseure l'àvia al costat de la finestra perquè hi hagués més llum.

They seated Grandma beside the window so there would be more light.

—Ens podem asseure? —Sí, seieu on vulgueu; encara hi ha lloc.

—Can we sit down? —Yes, sit wherever you like; there's still room.

Characteristic combinations include seure a taula, seure a terra, seure al costat de and seure en una cadira. Prepositions reflect the spatial relationship rather than an arbitrary English mapping. In formal institutional language, prendre seient is (formal), whereas seure is neutral.

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Ask whether somebody merely sits/is seated (seure), causes another person to sit (asseure algú), or takes a seat (asseure's). That semantic distinction determines transitivity and pronouns.

Durant el sopar vaig seure al costat d'una arquitecta que treballa al barri.

During dinner I sat beside an architect who works in the neighborhood.

Common Mistakes

❌ La infermera va seure el pacient a la cadira.

Incorrect—seure is intransitive and cannot take the patient as a direct object.

✅ La infermera va asseure el pacient a la cadira.

The nurse seated the patient in the chair.

❌ Sempre seguem a prop de la sortida.

Incorrect as present indicative—the plural form is seiem; seguem is subjunctive.

✅ Sempre seiem a prop de la sortida.

We always sit near the exit.

❌ Quan arribis, seu-te al meu costat.

Incorrect for the pronominal 'sit down' construction—the verb is asseure's.

✅ Quan arribis, asseu-te al meu costat.

When you arrive, sit down next to me.

❌ La mestra vol que seiem en rotllana.

Incorrect if the clause requires present subjunctive; use the velar form seguem.

✅ La mestra vol que seguem en rotllana.

The teacher wants us to sit in a circle.

❌ Els assistents anaven seguent a mesura que arribaven.

Incorrect—the gerund is seient, not seguent.

✅ Els assistents anaven seient a mesura que arribaven.

The attendees took their seats one by one as they arrived.

Key Takeaways

Build the conjugation from sec, seiem, seia, seguí, seuré, segui, and segut. Keep present seiem apart from imperfect sèiem and subjunctive seguem. Most importantly, preserve the syntax: seure is intransitive, asseure is transitive, and asseure's is pronominal.

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