SYNTAX: CONDITIONAL CLAUSES

1. Conditional clauses are usually divided into three types regarding their likelihood to be fulfilled or to occur:

Type I Conditional Clauses: real clauses, acts or events may be performed or happen:

> if you are hungry, please let me know

Type II Conditional Clauses: hypothetical clauses, acts or events are not very sure to be performed or happen:

> if you had money, what would you buy me for Christmas?

Type III Conditional Clauses: impossible clauses, acts or events may not be performed or happen

> if I had met John Lennon, I’d have liked to sing a song with him

2. Catalan type I sentences may have different indicative tenses in the main clause and usually present indicative in the depending one

si tens gana, et compro/compraré un entrepà	if you are hungry, I’ll buy you a sandwich
vine a casa, si vols	come home, if you want to

3. Type II sentences rule out a past tense (preterit subjunctive) in the dependent clause and a conditional tense in the main one:

si tinguessis gana, et compraria un entrepà	if you were hungry, I’d buy you a sandwich
no compraria cap altre ordinador, si ja en tingués un	I wouldn’t buy a computer if I already had one.

4. Type III rule out the same tenses like type II, but they must be perfect tenses:

si ahir haguessis tingut gana, t’hauria comprat un entrepà	if you had been hungry yesterday, I’d have bought you a sandwich
l’any passat no hauria comprat cap ordinador, si ja n’hagués tingut un	last year I wouldn’t have bought a computer if I had already had one

SYNTAX: COMPLETIVE CLAUSES

1. Completive clauses are those who are embedded within the main clause working out as object of subject of the main predicate. This are some English examples:

> I don’t want [to stay at home]

> I like [reading books]

> I expect [<that> you will enjoy your holidays]

> I don’t know [if/whether the heating is on]

2. Furthermore, completive clauses are also to be found to enlarge nouns and adjectives:

> That’s a good book to read

> That recipe is easy to cook

3. All the previous sentences are completive. In some cases a linker is required (that, if), in others the verb itself introduces the sentence, presenting it non-finite form (infinitive or gerund).

4. Catalan completive clauses work out similarly, with and without a linker. Like in English, infinitives are used when the subject of both clauses is the same.

If you observe the first example above, you will see that the subject of both want and see is I, Instead, the subjects of the third clause are different; the main clause has got I as its subject, whilst the second one has got you.

3. There is a third item to take into account. Finite-verb clauses may present either indicative or subjunctive. The use of indicative or subjunctive is explained here.

4. Infinitive-clauses in Catalan are used, like in English, when the subject of both clauses is the same:

m’agrada ser feliç	I like being happy
volem visitar Andorra	we want to visit Andorra
no l’has vist arribar?	haven’t you seen him arrive?
espero poder fer-ho tot bé	I expect to do everything alright

5. Infinitive-clauses enlarging adjectives or nouns are usually introduced by preposition de (but not only, since the prepositional regime is set up by the ruling word); anyway, the infinitive here has an impersonal value:

és molt difícil d‘explicar	it’s very difficult to explain
hi ha coses a fer encara	there are still several thing to do
és hora de treballar	it’s time to work

6. Some verbs (mainly speaking and thinking ones) never take infinitive, but a finite verb form:

diu que s’ha perdut	he says he’s lost
penso que no puc acceptar-ho	I think I can’t accept it

7. As it has been before, when both subjects are different, que–clauses are to be used.

m’agrada que siguis feliç		I like you being happy
volem que visiteu Andorra		we want you to visit Andorra
em cal que esperis una estona		it’s necessary for you to wait for a while
espero que puguin fer-ho tot bé		I expect they can do everything alright

8. Enlarging completive clauses may also present a que-clause (unlike what it was presented in 5, the finite-form is used because a given subject needs be specified):

és molt difícil que ho entenguis	it’s very difficult for you to understand
és possible que s’hagin perdut	it’s possible they have got lost
és hora de que treballeu	it’s time for you to work

9. Completive clauses ruling out an Indirect Object can just be que–clauses

li vaig demanar que quedés	I asked her to remain
ens va dir que ja era tard	(s)he said to us it was already late
us desitjo que sigueu molt feliços	I wish you were very happy

SYNTAX: COMPOUND SENTENCES

1. A sentence may be made out of one or more clauses. Sentences made out of more than one clause are called compound.

A compound sentence requires two or more lexical predicates, but the way in which they are related makes the difference.

Compound sentences must possess one main clause and, at least, one depending clause.  The following examples refer to English, but the structure is valid for most languages worldwide

3. The difference between attached and embedded can be explained by means of the following graphics:

Embedded clause: the pending clause plays a crucial role (function) within the main clause, so that if it is left out, the main clause is no longer meaningful (*I hope means nothing)

Attached clause: in many cases, both clauses can exchange their positions. The main clause tends to be full-meaningful when the pending clause is left out. If you say take a drink, that clause is already a sentence, thus it has got complete meaning.

4. The main types of compound clauses, together with their main linkers, are shown in this table. Relative clauses are presented here, as well as conditional clauses.

TYPE	LINKER	ENGLISH	EXAMPLE	TRANSLATION
embedded
- completive	que	that	espero que vinguis	I hope you come
	infinitive	infinitive	espero arribar aviat	I hope to come soon
	si	if, whether	no sé si és veritat	I don’t know if it’s true
- relative	que, qui	that, which, who	la casa que venc	the house I sell
attached
- time	quan	when	quan vinguis, truca’m	when you come, ring me up
	en + infinitive	when, by	en arribar a casa, he vist en Joan	when coming home, I’ve seen John
- consequence	com que	since, given that	com que no ets raonable, no farem negocis	since you’re not reasonable, we’ll make no business
- mode	com	as	no ho ha fet com jo pensava	he hasn’t done it as I thought he would
- adversative	tot i que	although, though	tot i que no sabia anglès, va trobar feina a NY	although he didn’t know English, he found a job in NY
	malgrat (que)	despite	malgrat que sofreix una malaltia horrible, és optimista	despite suffering from a horrible illness, he’s optimistic
- cause	perquè	because	el van castigar perquè conduïa borratxo	he was punished because he was driving drunk
	per + infinitive	for	el van castigar per conduir borratxo	he was punished for driving drunk
- finality	perquè	for, so that	t’ho he dit perquè ho sàpigues	I’ve told you so that you know it / for you to know it
	per + infinitive	to, in order to	compra’t un bon llibre per llegir	buy a good book to read
	per tal de + inf.	to, in order to	es van comprar un cotxe per presumir entre els veïns	they bought a new car in order to brag about it among the neighbours