Pronouns in Catalan
27 words Catalan words on the topic “pronouns”: jo — I, tu — you, vostè — you (formal), ell — he, ella — she.
27 words on the topic
- joICatalans usually drop it: the verb ending already says who acts. Jo goes in for emphasis
- tuyouPeople switch to first names and the informal you quickly here — even with a shopkeeper. Moving to vostè signals distance, not default politeness
- vostèyou (formal)The polite you, for strangers and elders. The verb stays in the third person: vostè és — literally 'you is he'
- ellheAlso stands for masculine things, since every noun carries a gender: the pronoun simply follows it
- ellasheThe plural elles is for women only; ells covers men and mixed company
- nosaltresweNo gender: one we for men and women alike — here Catalan is simpler than Spanish
- ellstheyElls for men and mixed company, elles for women only. One man is enough to make it ells
- el meumyPossessives go with an article and agree in gender: el meu llibre, la meva casa. The plural els meus covers both 'my things' and 'my folks'
- el teuyour (informal)Built the same way: el teu cotxe, la teva casa. The article is obligatory — without it the word does not read
- el nostreourOurs is longer: el nostre pis, la nostra ciutat. The -tre/-tra ending announces 'our' at once
- el vostreyour (plural)El vostre for masculine, la vostra for feminine — nostre/nostra with a v. One word for one person or a group
- el seuhis, her, theirOne word for every third person: 'his', 'her' and 'their' are all el seu. Context tells the owner: el seu pare — his or their father
- el propiownIt means 'one's very own': el propi, la pròpia casa. It intensifies rather than adds a meaning; the article agrees
- el mateixself, the sameEll mateix ho va fer — he did it himself. One word covers the emphatic self and the sameness
- totall'All', 'everything' and 'everyone' in one word that agrees: tot, tota, tots, totes. Tot el dia — all day
- cadascun deeach ofLiterally 'each one of': cadascun de nosaltres — each of us. The feminine is cadascuna: gender counts
- qualsevolanyLiterally 'whichever you want'. It never changes: qualsevol dia — any day
- aquestthisThis — the near one: aquest, aquesta, aquests, aquestes. Aquest és el meu — this one is mine: it works without a noun too
- aquellthatThat — the far one: aquell, aquella, aquells, aquelles. The steps are simple: aquest — here, aquell — out there
- talsuchOne short word: tal. No he vist mai tal desastre — I have never seen such a mess; it also lives in tal com — exactly as
- un altreotherUn altre for masculine, una altra for feminine. 'One more' you know from the market: one word for both cases
- quin dewhich ofA choice among the known: quin, quina, quins, quines. Quin dels dos vols? — which of the two do you want?
- capnoneIt lives with no: no en tinc cap — I have none. Context keeps it apart from el cap, the head
- algúsomeoneIn questions it was 'anyone', you knew it; in a story the same word is 'someone': algú ha trucat — someone called
- alguna cosasomething or otherYou knew it as 'something'; here is its second role — a something one speaks of without specifying: hi ha alguna cosa a la pica
- ningú denone ofLiterally 'no one of': ningú de nosaltres no ho sap — none of us knows it; the no at the verb is obligatory
- resnothingIn questions 'anything', in negations 'nothing': the same res, you knew it. No veig res — I see nothing
How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
- Avui pago jo, demà pagues tuToday I pay, tomorrow you do
- I tu què en penses?And what do you think?
- Vostè és el pare de la Marta?Are you Marta's father?
- Ell treballa al mercatHe works at the market
- Ella viu al carrer del costatShe lives on the next street
- Nosaltres anem en metro, és més ràpidWe'll take the subway, it's faster
What is worth knowing about these words
jo — I. Catalans usually drop it: the verb ending already says who acts. Jo goes in for emphasis
tu — you. People switch to first names and the informal you quickly here — even with a shopkeeper. Moving to vostè signals distance, not default politeness
vostè — you (formal). The polite you, for strangers and elders. The verb stays in the third person: vostè és — literally 'you is he'
ell — he. Also stands for masculine things, since every noun carries a gender: the pronoun simply follows it
Test yourself
Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than recognizing a familiar word — and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “I” in Catalan?
Catalans usually drop it: the verb ending already says who acts. Jo goes in for emphasis
- How do you say “my” in Catalan?
Possessives go with an article and agree in gender: el meu llibre, la meva casa. The plural els meus covers both 'my things' and 'my folks'
- How do you say “all” in Catalan?
'All', 'everything' and 'everyone' in one word that agrees: tot, tota, tots, totes. Tot el dia — all day
- How do you say “which of” in Catalan?
A choice among the known: quin, quina, quins, quines. Quin dels dos vols? — which of the two do you want?
- How do you say “you” in Catalan?
People switch to first names and the informal you quickly here — even with a shopkeeper. Moving to vostè signals distance, not default politeness
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- This holds not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “I” in Catalan?
«jo». Catalans usually drop it: the verb ending already says who acts. Jo goes in for emphasis. It is one of 27 words in the set “pronouns” — the rest are in the table above.
How many pronouns do you need to start?
A dozen is enough. The set of 27 words on this page covers nearly every everyday case on the topic — but it is best taken a few at a time, not all at once.