Catalan speakers do many things, but we also give

PalmAmong the most frequent verbs in the Catalan language is, without a doubt, 'hacer' and ''Give'. Both have full and clear uses, such as 'to do a job' (in which the verb 'to do' means "to carry out") or 'to give a book' (in which the verb 'to give' has the full meaning of "to transfer to another"), but they also participate in many expressions where the main meaning lies in the accompanying noun. When we say, for example, that we want to 'ask someone a question', the core of the action is 'question'. The same occurs in ''to pay a visit,' 'to do work,' or 'to do an analysis.' The verb 'to do' provides the verbal structure of the sentence (it marks the tense, person, and agreement), but the main semantic content (that is, the meaning) is provided by the noun.

Something similar happens with 'to give.' Expressions like 'to support,' 'to take a look,' or 'to give advice' are also constructed with a very general verb and a noun that expresses the action itself. In a way, we could say that the verb provides the grammatical information to the sentence, while the noun acts as the core of the event.

Light verb

Linguistics refers to these structures as "support verb constructions" or "light verb constructions," and they are not exclusive to Catalan. They are found in many languages, although the verbs used in each case may vary. Spanish, for example, often coincides with Catalan: ask a question, give an answer, provide supportBut in other cases, it opts for different verbs. Where Catalan take a look, the Castilian take a lookAnd while we 'kiss', Castilian gives them (give kissesEnglish, on the other hand, says take a look ('take a look') to 'take a look''and to 'pay a visit' he often uses the expression pay a visited ('pay a visit'). French coincides with Catalan with faire une visita, just like the Norwegian gjøre et besøk (literally, 'pay a visit' in both cases). The mechanism is always the same: a very general verb is combined with a noun that expresses the action. Many of these combinations coexist with equivalent simple verbs. For example, 'to ask a question' is equivalent to 'to ask'; 'to pay a visit', to 'to visit'; 'to give an answer', to 'to reply'. At first glance, then, using these constructions might seem redundant. If Catalan already has a specific verb, why does it also maintain the construction with a general verb? Several linguists have tried to answer this question. For example, Georgina Alvarez-Morera, who dedicated her doctoral thesis to comparing constructions with supporting verbs in Catalan, Spanish, German, and English, has worked on this issue. One explanation has to do with syntactic flexibility. Structures with nouns allow the sentence to be expanded very easily. It is natural that someone might find us... 'Ask an awkward question, pay a brief visit to someone on a long weekend, or give a very detailed answer to a complicated question. The noun can be modified with adjectives or complements without the sentence needing to be rearranged.

With the simple verb, however, it is often necessary to rephrase the sentence. In the previous examples, we would speak of 'asking awkwardly,' 'visiting briefly,' or 'answering in great detail.' This is not impossible, nor is it unusual, although it is perhaps less direct, and this surely contributes to these constructions remaining so productive: they offer more room to modulate the discourse and introduce nuances.

Of the two verbs we are discussing today, 'hacer' (to do/make) is probably the most versatile and the one we use most in Catalan. It can appear with a wide variety of nouns that designate actions or events. Thus, we have 'we ask questions', 'trips', 'comments', 'analysis', 'photographs', or 'reference to something'. This broad usage is explained by the fact that 'to do' is a very nonspecific verb in terms of meaning and, therefore, easily lends itself to functioning as a support for other words.

In contrast, 'to give' has somewhat different nuances. Many of the combinations imply the idea of ​​transfer to someone. This is the case with 'to support an initiative', 'to give advice to a friend', or 'to give an answer to someone'. In all these expressions, there is an explicit or implicit recipient. In a way, the verb still retains part of its original meaning: that which is sent or directed towards someone.

Combining verbs

Naturally, there are exceptions. In Catalan, we use 'hacer' (to do/make) with 'un beso' (a kiss), 'un abrazo' (a hug), or 'un masaje' (a massage), even when there is a clear recipient. And we also say that in cinemas or on television, they 'make' interesting films, not 'give' them, as in Spanish. In fact, there are other cases where Spanish uses 'dar' (to give) and Catalan uses 'hacer' (to do/make). Thus, in Catalan, we talk about things that 'dan miedo' (fear), 'rabia' (anger), or 'pena' (sadness), while in Spanish, these same things 'dan miedo' (fear), 'rabia' (anger), or 'pena' (sadness). These differences show, once again, that each language has its own way of combining general verbs with nouns.

In short, it is true that Catalan speakers, in this sense, 'do' many things: we ask questions, we make comments, we pay visits. But we also 'give': we support, we give advice, we give answers. All this reminds us, once again, that each language constructs its sentences with its own patterns and resolves communicative needs in its own way.