Appendix:Catalan irregular verbs

There is a rather large number of irregular verbs in Catalan. This page lists those verbs, along with a description of the points where their inflection differs from the usual/regular form.

Many irregular verbs have only an irregular past participle, but are otherwise completely regular. To avoid cluttering up the list with these verbs, they are listed separately.

Only one first conjugation verb has an irregular past participle, matar, and it is only optionally irregular. The regular form matat may be used, but alternatively the past participle of morir is borrowed for this verb as well.

The verb donar is completely regular, at least in standard speech. Its second and third person singular present forms can be confused in writing with the noun dona (“woman”), plural dones, but not in spoken language of native speakers as the noun has and the verb has (see dona). For that reason, extra redundant accent used to be placed (until 2016 spelling reform) on those verbal forms: dónes, dóna.

NB In some spoken dialects, e.g. Central Catalan, there are some forms of this very frequent verb mingled with the model of the verbs of second conjugation with velar infix; present indicative: donc, dons, etc; present subjunctive: dongui, donguis, etc

The obsolescent verb dar is regular, but its conjugation is defective - it does not have a full set of forms. All forms that would have an unstressed ending in a normal -ar verb are missing from this verb, and suppleted by the forms of donar.

NB The mingling of the paradigms of the verbs dar and donar is described in different stages in different dictionaries. E.g. AVL does list imperative form da, dem, deu while IEC does not.

anar is suppletive. All forms that would have an unstressed ending in a normal -ar verb, instead use a different root altogether, va-. These forms themselves are irregular in their own right, as well:

• The present tense forms drop the vowel of the ending: vas, va, van.
• The 1st person singular present and the present subjunctive use the stem vaj-: vaig, vagi, vagis, vagin.
• The 2nd person singular imperative is different altogether: vés.

In addition to this, the stem that is used to form the future and conditional forms is not anar-, but instead the irregular anir-.

NB This very frequent verb as used as auxiliary to form periphrastic past has different forms vam, vau for indicative present first person plural and second person plural.

NB In some spoken dialects, e.g. Central Catalan, this verb as auxiliary to form periphrastic past has the analogic forms vem, veu instead on vam, vau.

The present tense of estar has the stress on the ending rather than on the e: estàs, està, estan. The 1st person singular present, the preterite, and both subjunctive tenses have a velar stem, estig- (which becomes estic in the first due to devoicing, and estigu- before e or i). There are no imperative forms, instead forms based on the subjunctive are used.

The regular past participle ending is -ut, but there are so many irregular forms that it isn't actually that frequent. For velar-infix stems (ending in -l and -n) and vowel stems, the usual ending is -gut, but it is rarer still.

The following verbs have velar-infix stems, but past participles ending in -ut.

The following verbs do not have velar-infix stems, but still have past participles ending in -gut, or have an irregular stem.

The following verbs have past participles ending in -scut.

The following verbs have past participles ending in -t attached directly to the stem, which may lose its final consonant. (This -t does not become -d- in the feminine.)

The following verbs have past participles ending in -s, which usually causes the preceding consonant to disappear or change.

The following verbs have an infinitive ending in stressed -er or in just -r. Most of these verbs have an alternative, more regular infinitive, which may be more or less frequently used than the irregular one. Note that in the case of infinitives in stressed -er, the future and conditional are formed based on the "regular" alternative infinitive form.

The following verbs have e when the stem vowel is stressed, a when it is not stressed. This alternation only occurs in Eastern Catalan (which includes the Catalan of most of Catalonia and the Balears). In Western Catalan (including Valencian), the verbs have only a.

Model verb: tenir

Template: {{ca-conj-ir-tenir}}

The verbs tenir and venir appear to belong to the third conjugation, because their infinitives end in -ir. Indeed, the present tense (apart from the 1st person singular) and the imperfect tense are conjugated as in the third conjugation (without -eix-). However, in all other forms, these verbs and their derivatives conjugate as if their infinitives were tindre and vindre, like the second conjugation. Because their stems end in -n, they have a velar infix as well.

The difference between the verbs along with their derivatives is in the 2nd, 3rd person singular and 3rd person plural indicative, as well as the 2nd person imperative. These may or may not have an accent on the -e. The 3rd person singular indicative and 2nd person singular imperative may also retain or drop the final -n of the stem. The singular imperative of venir itself is unique: vine.

There are two main types of irregular past participle. These irregularities also occur in the second conjugation.

The following verbs have past participles ending in -t attached directly to the stem, which may get an extra -e- before the final consonant.

The following verbs have past participles ending in -s, which usually causes the preceding consonant to disappear or change.

The following verbs have u and i when the stem vowel is stressed, o and e(i) when it is not stressed.