Present Subjunctive of Regular -ar Verbs | Catalan Grammar

Regular -ar verbs form the present subjunctive in Central Catalan with the series -i, -is, -i, -em, -eu, -in: canti, cantis, canti, cantem, canteu, cantin. These endings mark a situation as desired, questioned, evaluated, or otherwise not simply asserted. This page concentrates on building the forms; the choice between indicative and subjunctive is developed on the introduction to the present subjunctive.

English often uses the same visible verb form in “she sings” and “I want her to sing.” Catalan does not: canta is indicative, while vull que canti is subjunctive. The change of mood is carried by the finite verb itself.

The complete Central paradigm

Remove infinitive -ar and add the present-subjunctive endings. With cantar, the practical stem is cant-.

Person	Ending	cantar	Example frame
jo	-i	canti	Vols que canti?
tu	-is	cantis	Espero que cantis.
ell / ella / vostè	-i	canti	Cal que canti.
nosaltres	-em	cantem	Vol que cantem.
vosaltres	-eu	canteu	Dubto que canteu.
ells / elles / vostès	-in	cantin	Deixa que cantin.

La professora vol que jo practiqui cada dia.

The teacher wants me to practice every day.

Espero que arribis abans de les vuit.

I hope you arrive before eight.

És important que la Marta descansi aquest cap de setmana.

It is important for Marta to rest this weekend.

Ens demanen que aparquem al carrer del darrere.

They are asking us to park on the street behind the building.

No crec que treballeu demà.

I don't think you all are working tomorrow.

Deixa que els nens juguin una estona més.

Let the children play a little longer.

The endings encode the subject, so an explicit pronoun is normally unnecessary. Use one for contrast—Vol que jo cuini i que tu paris taula—or to remove genuine ambiguity. Formal vostè takes third-person singular canti; plural vostès takes cantin.

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Learn the six forms as two stress groups: stem-stressed canti, cantis, canti, cantin and ending-stressed cantem, canteu. That pattern explains several spelling and stem alternations elsewhere in the verb system.

Stress and the forms shared with the indicative

In canti, cantis, canti, and cantin, stress falls on the stem: cant-. In cantem and canteu, it falls on the ending. No accent mark is needed because ordinary Catalan spelling predicts this stress.

The first- and second-person plural forms are identical in spelling to the present indicative for regular -ar verbs:

Cada dijous cantem al centre cívic.

Every Thursday we sing at the community center.

Volen que cantem més fluix.

They want us to sing more quietly.

The first cantem is indicative because it is asserted as a routine. The second is subjunctive because it lies inside a wish. There is no hidden pronunciation contrast to memorize; clause meaning identifies the mood.

This is an honest difficulty for learners: a form can be morphologically ambiguous. Do not invent a different ending. Read the governing predicate and the assertion status of the subordinate clause.

Preserve the consonant sound in spelling

“Regular” does not mean that every letter remains unchanged. Catalan spelling adjusts the final stem consonant before i or e so that the sound remains stable. These are spelling-preserving alternations, not new tense endings.

Infinitive pattern	Subjunctive model	Reason
-car: tocar	toqui, toquis, toqui, toquem, toqueu, toquin	qu keeps the hard /k/ sound before i/e
-gar: plegar	plegui, pleguis, plegui, pleguem, plegueu, pleguin	gu keeps the hard /g/ sound
-çar: començar	comenci, comencis, comenci, comencem, comenceu, comencin	c already represents the soft sound before i/e
-jar: menjar	mengi, mengis, mengi, mengem, mengeu, mengin	g represents the sound before i/e

No vull que toquis aquest cable.

I don't want you to touch this cable.

Convé que pleguem abans que es faci fosc.

We should finish before it gets dark.

Quan comencin les obres, tancaran aquest accés.

When the building work starts, they will close this entrance.

La metgessa recomana que mengis una mica abans de prendre la pastilla.

The doctor recommends that you eat a little before taking the pill.

The -em/-eu forms also trigger the spelling appropriate before e: toquem, pleguem, comencem, mengem. See present-subjunctive spelling for less common patterns.

Vowel contact and the diaeresis

When the stem itself ends in i, simply writing another i without the correct mark would obscure syllable structure. Verbs such as canviar, estudiar, and somiar use a diaeresis in the stem-stressed forms:

Infinitive	Stem-stressed forms	Ending-stressed forms
canviar	canviï, canviïs, canviï, canviïn	canviem, canvieu
estudiar	estudiï, estudiïs, estudiï, estudiïn	estudiem, estudieu
copiar	copiï, copiïs, copiï, copiïn	copiem, copieu

Dubto que canviïn l'horari amb tan poc marge.

I doubt they will change the schedule at such short notice.

La tutora prefereix que estudiïs a la biblioteca.

The tutor prefers you to study at the library.

The diaeresis is not decorative: ï marks the vowel as belonging to its own syllable. The unmarked canviin and estudiin are spelling errors.

Weak pronouns and negation

In an ordinary subordinate clause, weak pronouns stand immediately before the finite subjunctive. Negation precedes the pronoun cluster:

Espero que m'escoltis fins al final.

I hope you listen to me until the end.

És millor que no l'aparquem aquí.

It is better that we not park it here.

A negative command uses the present subjunctive and preverbal pronouns: No el toquis “Don't touch it.” By contrast, a formal affirmative command can use a form identical to the subjunctive but attaches the pronoun after the verb: Toqui'l, si us plau “Touch it, please” (formal address). The verb form is the same; clause type determines placement.

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Do not use pronoun position alone to identify mood. Que l'escolti is a subordinate subjunctive, no l'escolti can be a negative formal command, and escolti'l is an affirmative formal command.

Regional standard forms

This page uses the Central -i series. Valencian standard uses -e in the first conjugation (regional: Valencian):

Person	Central baseline	Valencian standard
jo	canti	cante
tu	cantis	cantes
ell / ella / vostè	canti	cante
nosaltres	cantem	cantem
vosaltres	canteu	canteu
ells / elles / vostès	cantin	canten

Thus Valencian Vull que cantes is a standard regional form, not an indicative error (regional: Valencian). In Central Catalan, however, Vull que cantis is the expected standard form. Balearic, Northwestern, and Northern standard paradigms generally use the -i series here (regional: Balearic / Northwestern / Northern). Do not mix cells from different regional systems at random; choose a coherent standard variety.

The form does not choose itself after que

The conjunction que appears with both moods. What matters is whether the clause is asserted as information or placed inside desire, doubt, evaluation, or another nonassertive frame.

Sé que treballa els dissabtes.

I know that she works on Saturdays.

Dubto que treballi aquest dissabte.

I doubt that she will work this Saturday.

The first speaker commits to treballa as a fact; the second withholds that commitment. The visible -i marks the mood contrast, but the meaning of the larger sentence licenses it.

Mini-dialogue: planning a rehearsal

—Vols que assagem a casa meva? —Sí, però procura que els veïns no es queixin.

—Do you want us to rehearse at my place? —Yes, but make sure the neighbors don't complain.

—D'acord. Comencem quan arribis i acabem abans de les deu. —Perfecte; avisa'm quan aparquis.

—All right. We'll start when you arrive and finish before ten. —Perfect; let me know when you park.

Assagem, arribis, and aparquis are present subjunctives licensed by desire or future time. Comencem and acabem have proposal/future readings in the main clause; identical-looking plural forms must be interpreted in context.

Common Mistakes

1. Keeping the infinitive ending.

❌ Espero que parlaris amb ella avui.

Incorrect—do not add a present-subjunctive ending to the full infinitive.

✅ Espero que parlis amb ella avui.

I hope you speak with her today.

2. Using the indicative after a genuine nonassertive frame.

❌ Vull que treballes menys.

Incorrect in the Central standard—the desired action requires treballis.

✅ Vull que treballis menys.

I want you to work less.

3. Ignoring sound-preserving spelling.

❌ No crec que aparcis aquí.

Incorrect spelling—the hard sound of aparcar requires qu before i.

✅ No crec que aparquis aquí.

I don't think you will park here.

4. Omitting a required diaeresis.

❌ Pot ser que canviin la data.

Incorrect spelling for the stem-stressed third-person plural of canviar.

✅ Pot ser que canviïn la data.

They may change the date.

5. Selecting subjunctive merely because que appears.

❌ És evident que treballi massa.

Incorrect here—the main clause presents the proposition as evident.

✅ És evident que treballa massa.

It is obvious that she works too much.

Key Takeaways

In the Central baseline, regular -ar verbs use -i, -is, -i, -em, -eu, -in.
Stem stress occurs in four forms; -em and -eu are ending-stressed and look identical to the indicative.
Preserve consonant sounds with spellings such as toqui, plegui, comenci, and mengi, and write required diaereses in canviï and estudiï.
Valencian standard uses the parallel -e series: cante, cantes, cante, cantem, canteu, canten.

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