Past Tense with 'anar' — Catalan Grammar

This tense, known as the passat perifràstic, is formed using the present tense of the verb (to go) followed by the infinitive of the main verb. It is the most common way to express a completed past action in spoken Catalan in the Barcelona region, equivalent to the simple past in English (e.g., "I saw," "she ate").

How to Form the Periphrastic Past

The structure is straightforward: the correctly conjugated form of in the present tense, followed directly by the main verb in its infinitive form (e.g., , , ).

First, here is the present tense of :

You then add the infinitive verb to complete the tense.

Ahir vaig treballar fins tard.
Yesterday I worked until late.
Què vau fer el cap de setmana?
What did you (plural) do on the weekend?
L'any passat van comprar un cotxe nou.
Last year they bought a new car.

Usage: Completed Past Actions

This tense is used for actions that were completed in a time period that is now finished. It is often used with time markers like (yesterday), (last week), (in 2015), etc.

It contrasts with the perfect tense (), which is used for actions in an unfinished time period (like - today) or actions with a direct result in the present.

Compare the two:

Ahir vaig anar al cinema.
Yesterday I went to the cinema. (The time period, "yesterday", is finished).
Avui he anat al cinema.
Today I have gone to the cinema. (The time period, "today", is not finished).

Past Tense vs. Immediate Future

A very important distinction is the difference between this past tense and the construction for the immediate future. The only difference is the presence of the preposition .

Past Tense: + infinitive

Immediate Future: + + infinitive

Notice how a single letter changes the meaning completely:

El nen va menjar tota la sopa.
The boy ate all the soup.
El nen va a menjar tota la sopa.
The boy is going to eat all the soup.
Vam decidir el pla.
We decided the plan.
Vam a decidir el pla.
We are going to decide the plan.

A Note on Dialects

While the periphrastic past is standard in Barcelona and most of Central Catalan, it's useful to know that it is not the only simple past tense. In more formal or literary contexts, and in other dialects like Valencian, a different tense called the passat simple is often used. For example, instead of (I sang), you might see . However, for everyday communication in Barcelona, the periphrastic form with is what you will hear and use almost exclusively.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Catalan course

39 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 93. A few of them, with the words “Past Tense with 'anar'” is about in bold:

Vaig anar al centre comercial.
I went to the shopping mall.
Lesson 172
El meu pare li va comprar un regal a la meva mare.
My father bought a present for my mother.
Lesson 225

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