En and Hi With Clitic Climbing

Level 6

In many verbal periphrases, a pronoun cluster can stand before the finite verb or after the infinitive.

How It Works

Ho vull fer and vull fer-ho express the same object relation. The object belongs to fer, but the close verbal construction permits the pronoun to appear before vull. This movement is commonly called clitic climbing.

When partitive en and locative hi occur together, move the complete n'hi group: n'hi vull posar dos or vull posar-n'hi dos. The quantity remains outside the pronoun group. Do not leave en before the auxiliary and attach hi after the infinitive; the cluster is one grammatical unit for this alternation. Its interpretation still depends on the lexical verb: putting objects somewhere differs from an existential haver-hi statement.

Examples (3)

  1. N'hi vull posar dos.

    I want to put two of them there.

  2. Vull posar-n'hi dos.

    I want to put two of them there.

  3. Podem deixar-n'hi tres.

    We can leave three of them there.

How It Connects

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En and Hi With Clitic ClimbingLevel 6

Learn This First

Move a complete pronoun group only within a construction that permits climbing. Keep partitive en and existential or locative hi as distinct functions in one cluster.

Words in This Pattern