SPELLING: APOSTROPHE

1. The apostrophe is an auxiliary writing item that marks elided vowels. It is used in a few cases.

2. With pre-verbal clitics, the vowel is elided when the verb it precedes begins with a vowel (or soundless <h>):

t’han vist al carrer	they’ve seen you on the street
s’explica molt fàcilment	that’s easy to explain

3. With post-verbal clitics, when the preceding verb ends with a vowel:

explica’m això	explain that to me
agafa’ls ràpid	grab them quickly

However, if the previous verb ends with a diphthong, elision cannot be performed and form I is used instead (see clitics):

Expliqueu-me això	explain that to me
Agafeu-los ràpid	grab them quickly

4. With definite articles in singular (l’). As for the masculine, the form el > l’ before any vowel; the feminine form la > l’ does not get reduced when the following word begins with an unstressed <i-> or <u->:

l’home	the man
l’abric	the coat
l’amiga	the friend (female)
l’elegància	the elegance
l’única	the only (one)
la unió	the union

In the last example, elision is not carried out since the initial <u-> is unstressed.

5. With the preposition de > d’ when the following word begins with a vowel

Sóc d’ací	I am from here
Aquests objectes són d’una persona	These objects belong to another person