Ell està segur?

to be

Breakdown of Ell està segur?

• ell: he
• segur: sure or certain

Questions & Answers about Ell està segur?

Why is ell included here? Can Catalan leave out the subject pronoun?

Yes. Catalan often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you the person and number.

So both of these are possible:

• Està segur?
• Ell està segur?

Including ell usually adds emphasis, contrast, or extra clarity, as in Is he sure? rather than someone else.

Why is it està and not és?

Because Catalan normally uses estar with segur when it means sure/certain.

• estar segur = to be sure / to be certain

So:

• Ell està segur? = asking about his certainty

Using ser here would not be the normal way to say that someone feels certain about something.

Why doesn’t the word order change for a question?

In Catalan, yes/no questions often use the same word order as statements. The difference is mainly shown by:

• intonation in speech
• the question marks in writing

So:

• Ell està segur. = statement
• Ell està segur? = question

Unlike English, Catalan does the subject and verb here.