Treballar means “to work,” and it is a fully regular first-conjugation verb. The paradigm has no stem change, no spelling alternation, no irregular participle, and no defective forms. Its real complexity lies in the complements that specify a profession, workplace, task, employer, schedule, or cause.
English uses “work as/at/on/for” too, but the boundaries do not map word for word. Catalan says treballar de metgessa, treballar a l'hospital, treballar en un projecte and treballar per a una cooperativa. The pronominal expression treballar-s'ho adds the sense of putting effort into something or earning an outcome; it follows the broader principles of Catalan pronominal verbs.
Nonfinite forms
| Form | Catalan | English guide |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | treballar | to work |
| Perfect infinitive | haver treballat | to have worked |
| Gerund | treballant | working |
| Perfect gerund | havent treballat | having worked |
| Participle | treballat; treballada, treballats, treballades | worked; worked on |
Compound tenses take haver: he treballat, havia treballat, hauria treballat. The participle stays invariable there. Agreeing forms are adjectival, as in una peça molt treballada “a highly elaborated piece.” The progressive estar treballant is natural for an activity underway, but the simple present handles habits and occupations: Treballo en una escola.
Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses
| Tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | treballo | treballes | treballa | treballem | treballeu | treballen |
| Imperfect | treballava | treballaves | treballava | treballàvem | treballàveu | treballaven |
| Periphrastic past | vaig treballar | vas treballar | va treballar | vam treballar | vau treballar | van treballar |
| Simple past | treballí | treballares | treballà | treballàrem | treballàreu | treballaren |
| Future | treballaré | treballaràs | treballarà | treballarem | treballareu | treballaran |
| Conditional | treballaria | treballaries | treballaria | treballaríem | treballaríeu | treballarien |
Stress shifts predictably: treballo, treballes, treballa, treballen stress the stem, while treballem, treballeu stress the ending. Written accents distinguish forms such as treballàvem and treballaré. The noun treball “work/job” has no final vowel; treball is not a first-person verb form.
Treballo de tècnica de so en un teatre municipal.
I work as a sound technician in a municipal theater.
Abans treballàvem al mateix edifici, però gairebé no ens vèiem.
We used to work in the same building, but we hardly ever saw each other.
L'estiu passat vaig treballar en una campanya de prevenció d'incendis.
Last summer I worked on a wildfire-prevention campaign.
A partir de l'octubre treballarem dos dies per setmana des de casa.
Starting in October we'll work from home two days a week.
The periphrastic past is the default completed narrative tense in most everyday contexts. The synthetic past is more (formal/literary) in Central Catalan, while it remains used in speech in some territories (regional).
Compound tenses and subjunctive
| Indicative tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present perfect | he treballat | has treballat | ha treballat | hem treballat | heu treballat | han treballat |
| Pluperfect | havia treballat | havies treballat | havia treballat | havíem treballat | havíeu treballat | havien treballat |
| Past anterior | haguí treballat | hagueres treballat | hagué treballat | haguérem treballat | haguéreu treballat | hagueren treballat |
| Future perfect | hauré treballat | hauràs treballat | haurà treballat | haurem treballat | haureu treballat | hauran treballat |
| Conditional perfect | hauria treballat | hauries treballat | hauria treballat | hauríem treballat | hauríeu treballat | haurien treballat |
| Subjunctive tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | treballi | treballis | treballi | treballem | treballeu | treballin |
| Imperfect | treballés | treballessis | treballés | treballéssim | treballéssiu | treballessin |
| Present perfect | hagi treballat | hagis treballat | hagi treballat | hàgim treballat | hàgiu treballat | hagin treballat |
| Pluperfect | hagués treballat | haguessis treballat | hagués treballat | haguéssim treballat | haguéssiu treballat | haguessin treballat |
First- and second-person plural treballem, treballeu are identical across present indicative and subjunctive. Compare asserted Sé que treballeu aquí with evaluated M'agrada que treballeu aquí. English usually leaves the embedded verb unchanged, so learners must read the trigger in the larger Catalan sentence.
La coordinadora prefereix que treballis amb la versió revisada del document.
The coordinator prefers you to work with the revised version of the document.
Si haguéssim treballat plegats des del principi, no hauríem repetit la mateixa feina.
If we'd worked together from the start, we wouldn't have duplicated the same work.
Three additional periphrastic rows complete the reference. The subjunctive rows are restricted (regional/formal); in ordinary general usage, treballés and hagués treballat are much more usual.
| Periphrastic tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative past anterior | vaig haver treballat | vas haver treballat | va haver treballat | vam haver treballat | vau haver treballat | van haver treballat |
| Subjunctive past | vagi treballar | vagis treballar | vagi treballar | vàgim treballar | vàgiu treballar | vagin treballar |
| Subjunctive past anterior | vagi haver treballat | vagis haver treballat | vagi haver treballat | vàgim haver treballat | vàgiu haver treballat | vagin haver treballat |
Imperative and weak pronouns
| Addressee | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tu | treballa | no treballis |
| vostè | treballi | no treballi |
| nosaltres | treballem | no treballem |
| vosaltres | treballeu | no treballeu |
| vostès | treballin | no treballin |
The familiar command treballa is identical to the third-person present treballa; sentence function disambiguates them. Locative or prepositional hi can replace a workplace or task: Treballes al laboratori? Sí, hi treballo. It attaches to an affirmative command (treballa-hi) and precedes a negative one (no hi treballis).
—Encara treballes en el projecte del mercat? —Sí, hi treballo cada tarda.
—Are you still working on the market project? —Yes, I work on it every afternoon.
Treballa-hi una estona més i després ensenya'm el resultat.
Work on it a little longer and then show me the result.
Profession, workplace, project, and employer
De + profession states someone's occupation, usually without an article: treballar de cuinera. A + place/institution locates the job: treballar a l'ajuntament, a Girona. En + field/project/material identifies the activity or object of work: treballar en recerca, en un pressupost, en fusta. Per a + employer/client highlights who receives the work: treballar per a una editorial. Per + cause marks what one works toward: treballar per la pau.
La meva germana treballa de fisioterapeuta en una residència pública.
My sister works as a physiotherapist in a public care home.
Fa deu anys que treballen per a una empresa que fabrica material mèdic.
They've worked for a company that manufactures medical equipment for ten years.
Diverses entitats treballen per garantir l'accés de tothom a l'habitatge.
Several organizations work to guarantee everyone's access to housing.
The division reflects meaning, not an absolute ban on alternatives. A company can be conceptualized as a workplace (treballo a X) or an employer (treballo per a X). Treballar amb algú emphasizes collaboration. Fixed expressions include treballar per compte propi, treballar de valent, treballar a jornada completa/parcial and treballar en equip.
Treballar-s'ho is a genuine pronominal construction meaning to put sustained effort into something or earn a result: S'ho ha treballat molt. Plain treballar cannot simply replace it without changing the argument structure. In the clitic cluster, ho represents the matter or outcome.
No li han regalat la plaça: s'ho ha treballat durant anys.
They didn't hand her the position; she worked for it for years.
(Regional: Valencian) first-person treballe and the related -e subjunctive paradigm are standard. (Regional: Balearic) zero-ending treball and characteristic plural forms occur. General Central treballo/treballi remains the baseline used in the tables.
Common Mistakes
❌ Treballo com una infermera en un centre de salut.
Incorrect for simply naming a profession—the regular Catalan construction is treballar de plus a bare profession noun.
✅ Treballo d'infermera en un centre de salut.
I work as a nurse in a health center.
❌ La Núria treballa a un informe sobre mobilitat.
Incorrect for the object or project being worked on—use en.
✅ La Núria treballa en un informe sobre mobilitat.
Núria is working on a report about mobility.
❌ Jo treballeixo des de casa els divendres.
Incorrect—treballar is a first-conjugation verb and never takes incoative -eix-.
✅ Jo treballo des de casa els divendres.
I work from home on Fridays.
❌ No treballa-hi fins tan tard si demà matines.
Incorrect—negative commands place hi before a subjunctive form.
✅ No hi treballis fins tan tard si demà matines.
Don't work on it so late if you're getting up early tomorrow.
❌ Aquest ascens, l'ha treballat molt.
Incorrect for ‘earned through effort’—the idiomatic construction is pronominal treballar-s'ho.
✅ Aquest ascens, se l'ha treballat molt.
He has worked very hard for this promotion.
Key Takeaways
Treballar is regular in every productive tense and forms compounds with haver. Use de for a profession, a for a workplace, en for a project or field, per a for an employer/client and per for a cause. Locative hi replaces a workplace or project, while lexical treballar-s'ho means earning something through effort.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Regular -ar Verbs in the PresentA1 — Form and use the regular Catalan present in -ar for current actions, habits, general truths, and scheduled events.
- Regular Past ParticiplesA2 — Form Catalan past participles in -at, -ut, and -it and use them correctly with haver.
- Weak Pronouns with Affirmative CommandsA2 — Learn where Catalan weak pronouns go in affirmative commands and how hyphens, apostrophes, stress, and pronoun clusters work.
- Hi for Prepositional ComplementsB1 — Use hi to resume known complements governed by a, en, amb, or per without confusing them with direct and indirect objects.
- Inherently Pronominal VerbsA2 — Recognize Catalan verbs whose weak reflexive pronoun is part of the verb itself, and use them with the right person, complement, and placement.
- Verb–Preposition CollocationsA2 — Master adonar-se de, pensar en, parlar de, confiar en, and acostumar-se a as complete frames, with their en and hi replacements.