Canonical Order of Weak Pronouns
Pronoun clusters follow grammatical order rather than the order of the full noun phrases they replace.
How It Works
Reflexive se precedes ordinary personal object clitics, and first- or second-person clitics normally precede third-person objects: se me'n va, te'l dono. En and hi occupy later positions in combinations such as me'n and m'hi.
A complex cluster should be decoded from grammatical roles before its spelling is compared across varieties. In te l'hi portaré, te is the recipient, l’ the thing carried and hi the destination. In l'hi donaré, hi can instead realize a singular recipient in a Central-type combination. These two analyses explain why a printed hi is not always locative, even when an English translation could contain there.
Examples (3)
- Te l'hi portaré quan pugui.
I will bring it to you there when I can.
- Se me'n va anar de les mans.
It slipped out of my hands.
- Me n'he recordat a temps.
I remembered it in time.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Assign functions to a long pronoun cluster before interpreting ambiguous hi.
Related Patterns
Practice Canonical Order of Weak Pronouns in Bubblegum
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