allà
“allà” — there in Catalan. Adverb, level A1, topic — asking the way. The far 'there', out of reach. The nearer 'over there, by you' is allí. In a live sentence: “Deixa-ho allà, a sobre de la taula” — Leave it there, on the table. One of 28 words in the set “asking the way” in the Catalan course.
In short
| Written in Catalan | allà |
| Translation | there |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
The far 'there', out of reach. The nearer 'over there, by you' is allí
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Deixa-ho allà, a sobre de la taulaLeave it there, on the table
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- on és?where is it?Literally 'where is?': the question goes through ésser, not through estar — a difference from Spanish. The verb is never dropped
- la dretarightA la dreta — to the right. The word itself is feminine: la mà dreta — the right hand
- l'esquerraleftA word of its own, from Latin — not the Basque izquierda of Spanish. A l'esquerra — to the left
- tot rectstraight aheadLiterally 'all straight'. Recte is the same word as 'straight' in recta final, the final straight
- a propnearA prop de — close to something: a prop de casa. Without de it is simply 'near'
- llunyfarOpens with the double ll — one fused ly sound: lyoon. Lluny de — far from something
- aquíhereCatalan splits space three ways: aquí is here by me, allí is there by you, allà is out there in the distance
- per on s'hi vahow do I get there?Literally 'through where does one go there': an impersonal — the road is not yours or mine, it simply is
- arribar-hito get thereArribar + hi: to arrive there — hi stands for the place. S'hi arriba en bus — you can get there by bus
- a l'altra bandaon the other sideLiterally 'on the other side', as it reads. La banda — the side: you knew it
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “there” in Catalan?
The far 'there', out of reach. The nearer 'over there, by you' is allí
- How do you say “here” in Catalan?
Catalan splits space three ways: aquí is here by me, allí is there by you, allà is out there in the distance
- How do you say “left” in Catalan?
A word of its own, from Latin — not the Basque izquierda of Spanish. A l'esquerra — to the left
- How do you say “on the other side” in Catalan?
Literally 'on the other side', as it reads. La banda — the side: you knew it
- How do you say “far” in Catalan?
Opens with the double ll — one fused ly sound: lyoon. Lluny de — far from something
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- 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.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “there” in Catalan?
«allà». In a live sentence: “Deixa-ho allà, a sobre de la taula” — Leave it there, on the table. Adverb, level A1, from the set “asking the way”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The far 'there', out of reach. The nearer 'over there, by you' is allí. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.