He de pagar la fiança.

Yes, it looks confusing at first.

In Catalan, he is a verb form, not a pronoun. It is the 1st person singular present form of haver.

So:

• he = I have
• he de pagar = I have to pay

It has nothing to do with the English pronoun he.

Because Catalan expresses obligation with the pattern:

haver de + infinitive

So:

• he de pagar = I have to pay
• has de pagar = you have to pay
• ha de pagar = he/she/it has to pay

Here, pagar is the infinitive to pay, and de is part of the fixed structure.

Yes. Many speakers say haig de instead of he de, especially in everyday speech in some varieties of Catalan.

So both of these can mean the same thing:

• He de pagar la fiança
• Haig de pagar la fiança

For a learner, it is good to recognize both. He de is very standard and often feels a bit more neutral or formal.

Normally, in standard Catalan, no.

English I have to pay is usually expressed with haver de, not tenir:

• He de pagar = standard Catalan

Forms like tenir que are common in some informal speech, often under Spanish influence, but they are generally avoided in careful standard Catalan.

So for learners, haver de + infinitive is the safest and most standard choice.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb form already shows who the subject is.

Here, he already tells you the subject is I, so jo is not necessary.

• He de pagar la fiança = normal, natural
• Jo he de pagar la fiança = possible, but more emphatic

You might add jo if you want contrast or emphasis, for example: Jo he de pagar la fiança, no tu.

Because fiança is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular definite article la.

• la fiança

In this sentence, the article suggests a specific bail/security deposit is being referred to, not just the concept in general.

So the structure is:

• pagar = to pay
• la fiança = the bail / the security deposit

Not like English he.

In Catalan, he is pronounced more like eh. So:

• he de sounds roughly like eh de

The exact vowel can vary by accent, and in fast speech it may sound more reduced, but it is definitely not the English hee.

The ç in Catalan represents an s sound before a, o, or u.

So in fiança, the ç sounds like s.

A rough pronunciation is:

fee-AN-sa

In many Eastern accents, the last vowel is more neutral, so it may sound closer to:

fee-AN-suh

The stress is on the middle syllable: fi-AN-ça.

Grammatically, he is in the present tense, but the whole expression he de pagar usually means a present obligation about something that may happen now or later.

So it often corresponds to English:

• I have to pay
• I must pay

It does not mean that the paying is already happening. It means the obligation exists now.

Catalan allows two common possibilities with this kind of structure:

• L’he de pagar
• He de pagar-la

Both mean I have to pay it.

So the object pronoun can either:

• go before the finite verb: l’he
• attach to the infinitive: pagar-la

As a learner, it is useful to recognize both patterns.