es (impersonal)

Impersonal Es

Level 4

Impersonal es leaves a human agent unspecified and commonly uses a third-person singular verb.

How It Works

Use impersonal es to speak about what people do without naming an actor: aquí es treballa molt. With an intransitive verb there is no direct object that could become a grammatical subject. The form is not an instruction that literally names a person called es.

Distinguish an impersonal construction from a pronominal passive. Es venen llibres has plural agreement with llibres; aquí es viu bé has no corresponding patient noun. Both avoid identifying an actor, but their structures differ.

With an already pronominal verb, the impersonal construction can use es before the reflexive form se: quan s'és jove illustrates a simpler impersonal copular pattern. Keep examples uncomplicated until the two functions are clear.

Examples (3)

  1. Aquí es treballa molt.

    People work a lot here.

  2. En aquest poble es viu bé.

    Life is good in this village.

  3. Quan s'és jove, tot sembla possible.

    When one is young, everything seems possible.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

es (impersonal)Level 4Impersonal Es

Learn This First

Identify the reflexive element before combining it or distinguishing an impersonal use. Build ordinary clausal negation before adding impersonal or negative-word patterns.

Words in This Pattern