Conjugation of anar | Catalan Grammar

Anar means “to go,” but it has two jobs that English keeps separate. It is an ordinary motion verb (anem al mercat “we are going to the market”), and its present forms also serve as the auxiliary of Catalan’s everyday periphrastic past (vam comprar “we bought”). That second function makes anar central to virtually every Catalan narrative.

The useful principal parts are vaig for the present, anava for the imperfect, aní for the synthetic past, aniré for the future, vagi for the present subjunctive, and anat for compounds. The alternation between va-, an-, ani- and vag- is genuinely irregular; there is no single rule that derives all of it.

The auxiliary use receives a step-by-step treatment under periphrastic-past formation; this page keeps the full paradigm and lexical behavior together.

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Learn the family vaig – anava – aní – aniré – vagi – anat. The forms with va- and vag- are not separate verbs, while the ordinary future returns to anir-.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	anar	to go
Perfect infinitive	haver anat	to have gone
Gerund	anant	going
Perfect gerund	havent anat	having gone
Participle	anat; anada, anats, anades	gone

After haver, the participle is invariable: elles han anat al metge. Agreeing anada, anats, anades occur when the participle has adjectival force, as in una ruta molt anada “a much-traveled route,” though such adjectival uses are less frequent than the verbal participle.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	vaig	vas	va	anem	aneu	van
Imperfect	anava	anaves	anava	anàvem	anàveu	anaven
Periphrastic past	vaig anar	vas anar	va anar	vam anar	vau anar	van anar
Simple past	aní	anares	anà	anàrem	anàreu	anaren
Future	aniré	aniràs	anirà	anirem	anireu	aniran
Conditional	aniria	aniries	aniria	aniríem	aniríeu	anirien

The present is suppletive: singular vaig, vas, va and third-person plural van begin with v-, while anem, aneu preserve an-. Do not add the incoative extension -eix-: aneixo is impossible. The imperfect and the synthetic past are built transparently on an-; the future and conditional use anir-.

In most everyday varieties, vaig anar is the normal completed past. The synthetic aní, anares, anà... is common in (formal/literary) narrative and remains spoken in parts of the Valencian and Balearic areas (regional). Surface repetition in vaig anar is not an error: the first word is the past auxiliary and the second is the lexical infinitive.

Cada matí vaig a peu fins a l'estació i torno amb autobús.

Every morning I walk to the station and come back by bus.

Quan estudiàvem a Girona, anàvem sovint a la Devesa després de classe.

When we studied in Girona, we often went to the Devesa after class.

Dissabte vam anar a buscar els avis abans de dinar.

On Saturday we went to pick up the grandparents before lunch.

L'ambaixador anà directament al saló de plens.

The ambassador went straight to the council chamber. (formal/literary)

Indicative: compound tenses

All compound tenses use haver + anat. Catalan does not form the perfect with ser: English “she has gone” is ha anat, not és anada.

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present perfect	he anat	has anat	ha anat	hem anat	heu anat	han anat
Pluperfect	havia anat	havies anat	havia anat	havíem anat	havíeu anat	havien anat
Past anterior	haguí anat	hagueres anat	hagué anat	haguérem anat	haguéreu anat	hagueren anat
Future perfect	hauré anat	hauràs anat	haurà anat	haurem anat	haureu anat	hauran anat
Conditional perfect	hauria anat	hauries anat	hauria anat	hauríem anat	hauríeu anat	haurien anat

The past anterior is chiefly (formal/literary). A periphrastic anterior also exists: vaig haver anat, vas haver anat, va haver anat, vam haver anat, vau haver anat, van haver anat. Ordinary speech usually chooses havia anat unless immediate anteriority matters.

Aquest mes ja he anat tres vegades a la biblioteca del barri.

This month I've already been to the neighborhood library three times.

Si m'ho haguessis proposat abans, hi hauria anat amb vosaltres.

If you had suggested it earlier, I would have gone there with you.

Subjunctive: simple and compound

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	vagi	vagis	vagi	anem	aneu	vagin
Imperfect	anés	anessis	anés	anéssim	anéssiu	anessin
Present perfect	hagi anat	hagis anat	hagi anat	hàgim anat	hàgiu anat	hagin anat
Pluperfect	hagués anat	haguessis anat	hagués anat	haguéssim anat	haguéssiu anat	haguessin anat

The present alternates vag- with anem, aneu. Those two plural forms coincide with the indicative, so the clause supplies the mood: Sé que hi aneu states a fact; Vull que hi aneu expresses a wish. The imperfect uses regular-looking anés forms, not vagués in the general standard.

Restricted periphrastic tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Indicative past anterior	vaig haver anat	vas haver anat	va haver anat	vam haver anat	vau haver anat	van haver anat
Subjunctive past	vagi anar	vagis anar	vagi anar	vàgim anar	vàgiu anar	vagin anar
Subjunctive past anterior	vagi haver anat	vagis haver anat	vagi haver anat	vàgim haver anat	vàgiu haver anat	vagin haver anat

The last two rows have restricted (regional/formal) use. They belong in a complete reference, but learners should not force them into ordinary conversation.

Volen que hi anem una mica abans per preparar la sala.

They want us to go there a little early to prepare the room.

Si anessis pel camí de la costa, trigaries gairebé una hora més.

If you went by the coastal path, you would take almost an hour longer.

Imperative, destinations, and weak pronouns

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	ves	no vagis
vostè	vagi	no vagi
nosaltres	anem	no anem
vosaltres	aneu	no aneu
vostès	vagin	no vagin

Under current IEC orthography, the movement command ves has no accent. It is therefore written just like ves from veure in expressions such as Ves per on!; context distinguishes them. Affirmative commands attach pronouns (ves-hi, ves-te'n, aneu-hi), whereas negatives place them before the verb (no hi vagis, no us n'aneu).

Destinations normally take a: anar a Barcelona, a la feina, al dentista. When the destination is already known, the adverbial weak pronoun hi replaces it. English has no equivalent mandatory little element, so it is easy to omit.

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Once a destination with a is active in the conversation, answer with hi: Vas al mercat? Sí, hi vaig. Do not repeat the place or leave a bare English-style “yes, I go.”

—Demà aneu a la fira? —Sí, hi anem després d'esmorzar.

—Are you going to the fair tomorrow? —Yes, we're going there after breakfast.

The lexical pronominal verb anar-se'n means “to leave/go away.” Both se and en belong to its citation form: me'n vaig, te'n vas, se'n va, ens n'anem, us n'aneu, se'n van. Plain anar remains correct for motion toward a stated destination; anar-se'n foregrounds departure.

Quan es va acabar la música, ens en vam anar sense fer soroll.

When the music ended, we left without making any noise.

Another productive construction is anar + gerund, which presents a gradual or developing process: la situació va millorant. Here va millorant is present “is gradually improving,” not a past tense, because the second verb is a gerund rather than an infinitive.

La ferida va cicatritzant bé, però encara l'has de protegir del sol.

The wound is gradually healing well, but you still have to protect it from the sun.

(Regional: Balearic) present anam, anau corresponds to general anem, aneu. (Regional: Valencian) the present subjunctive commonly has vaja, vages, vaja, anem, aneu, vagen, and the imperfect may use anara.... These are standard regional paradigms. They do not alter the core distinction between plain anar and pronominal anar-se'n.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jo aneixo a la piscina els dimarts.

Incorrect—anar is irregular and never takes the incoative extension -eix-.

✅ Jo vaig a la piscina els dimarts.

I go to the pool on Tuesdays.

❌ Ahir vaig a la piscina abans de sopar.

Incorrect for a completed past—the periphrastic past requires vaig plus the infinitive anar.

✅ Ahir vaig anar a la piscina abans de sopar.

Yesterday I went to the pool before dinner.

❌ Ves-te de seguida, que hem de tancar.

Incorrect for ‘leave’—the pronominal verb is anar-se'n and requires en.

✅ Ves-te'n de seguida, que hem de tancar.

Leave right away; we have to close.

❌ La setmana vinent anirem en la Garrotxa.

Incorrect in the general destination construction—anar governs a before this place name.

✅ La setmana vinent anirem a la Garrotxa.

Next week we'll go to La Garrotxa.

❌ Espero que demà vas al metge.

Incorrect—the hoped-for trip belongs in the present subjunctive.

✅ Espero que demà vagis al metge.

I hope you go to the doctor tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

Keep the principal parts vaig, anava, aní, aniré, vagi, and anat together. Use vaig anar for an ordinary spoken “went,” recognize aní in marked narrative, and write the imperative ves without an accent. Destinations take a and can be replaced by hi. Departure is the lexical pronominal anar-se'n, whose en must not disappear.

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