Conjugation of entrar | Catalan Grammar

Entrar primarily means “to enter, go in, come in.” It is a fully regular first-conjugation verb, but its complements do important work: entrar a casa names a destination, entrar per la finestra a route, and entrar en vigor or entrar en crisi a new state. Catalan also allows transitive entrar when someone causes an object to pass inward.

English can use “enter” directly before a place (enter the room), whereas Catalan physical movement is normally intransitive and uses a locative complement. The verb is not inherently pronominal: its citation form is entrar, not entrar-se. The high-frequency pronoun is locative hi, as in entrar-hi “go into it/there”; its basic behavior is explained on the locative hi page.

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The forms are the regular chain entro – entrava – entrà – entraré – entri – entrés – entrat. Put your effort into the destination, route, state, and locative-pronoun patterns rather than inventing an irregular stem.

Nonfinite forms

Form	Catalan	English guide
Infinitive	entrar	to enter; go/come in
Perfect infinitive	haver entrat	to have entered
Gerund	entrant	entering
Perfect gerund	havent entrat	having entered
Participle	entrat; entrada, entrats, entrades	entered

All compound tenses use haver: ha entrat, havien entrat, haurà entrat. This differs from languages that select a special “be” auxiliary for motion verbs. The participle is normally invariable with haver; agreeing entrada, entrats, entrades occurs adjectivally or in passive/resultative structures.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	entro	entres	entra	entrem	entreu	entren
Imperfect	entrava	entraves	entrava	entràvem	entràveu	entraven
Periphrastic past	vaig entrar	vas entrar	va entrar	vam entrar	vau entrar	van entrar
Simple past	entrí	entrares	entrà	entràrem	entràreu	entraren
Future	entraré	entraràs	entrarà	entrarem	entrareu	entraran
Conditional	entraria	entraries	entraria	entraríem	entraríeu	entrarien

The stem remains entr- throughout. There is no velar addition and no incoative -eix-. Present entrem/entreu have the same written forms in the indicative and subjunctive. The periphrastic past is the ordinary conversational completed past; the synthetic past is often (formal/literary) in Central Catalan and remains conversational in some regions (regional).

Entro a la biblioteca per la porta lateral perquè l'entrada principal està tancada.

I enter the library through the side door because the main entrance is closed.

Quan vivíem al poble, els veïns entraven a casa sense trucar.

When we lived in the village, the neighbors used to come into the house without knocking.

Aquest matí hem entrat al museu abans que arribessin els grups escolars.

This morning we entered the museum before the school groups arrived.

L'any vinent entrarà en vigor la nova ordenança de residus.

Next year the new waste ordinance will come into force.

Compound tenses and subjunctive

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

Subjunctive tense	jo	tu	ell / ella / vostè	nosaltres	vosaltres	ells / elles / vostès
Present	entri	entris	entri	entrem	entreu	entrin
Imperfect	entrés	entressis	entrés	entréssim	entréssiu	entressin
Present perfect	hagi entrat	hagis entrat	hagi entrat	hàgim entrat	hàgiu entrat	hagin entrat
Pluperfect	hagués entrat	haguessis entrat	hagués entrat	haguéssim entrat	haguéssiu entrat	haguessin entrat

Mood comes from the surrounding clause, not a special lexical rule of entrar. Compare factual Sé que entren a les nou with desired Vull que entrin a les nou. Imperfect subjunctive entrés must not be confused with present entres: the accent marks both stress and a distinct tense.

La infermera demana que entrem d'un en un i que deixem la porta oberta.

The nurse asks us to go in one at a time and leave the door open.

Si no haguessin entrat per aquell carrer estret, no haurien quedat atrapats.

If they hadn't gone down that narrow street, they wouldn't have got stuck.

Three additional periphrastic rows complete the reference. The subjunctive past rows are (regional/formal); ordinary general Catalan usually uses entrés and hagués entrat.

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

Imperative and locative hi

Addressee	Affirmative	Negative
tu	entra	no entris
vostè	entri	no entri
nosaltres	entrem	no entrem
vosaltres	entreu	no entreu
vostès	entrin	no entrin

Affirmative commands attach hi (entra-hi, entreu-hi); negative commands place it before the verb (no hi entris, no hi entreu). The pronoun replaces the destination or abstract complement, not the subject. With an infinitive, both hi entrar and the attached entrar-hi pattern follow the general clitic rules of the surrounding construction.

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If a place or en + abstract complement has already been mentioned, test hi: Vols entrar al despatx? Sí, hi entraré ara. Do not add a reflexive pronoun merely because English says “get oneself into.”

—La sala ja és oberta? —Sí, entra-hi i seu a la primera fila.

—Is the room open already? —Yes, go in and sit in the first row.

No hi entreu amb menjar: al laboratori no és permès.

Don't go in there with food; it isn't allowed in the laboratory.

Destinations, routes, states, and transitive uses

For concrete destinations, a is extremely common: entrar a casa, entrar al despatx, entrar a l'escola. Per marks the route or opening: entrar per la finestra. En is especially established in changes of state and abstract participation: entrar en vigor, en crisi, en contacte, en negociacions, en detalls. The contrast is semantic rather than a mechanical translation of English “in/into.”

L'aigua entra per una esquerda petita darrere de la rentadora.

Water is coming in through a small crack behind the washing machine.

No entrarem en detalls personals durant una reunió oberta al públic.

We won't go into personal details during a meeting open to the public.

Entrar a + infinitive can mean beginning to participate or becoming part of an arrangement: entrar a treballar, entrar a formar part. Fixed expressions must be learned whole: entrar en vigor, not entrar a vigor. Sensations can appear as subjects with an indirect-object clitic: M'ha entrat gana/son/por. English usually restructures these as “I got hungry/sleepy/scared.”

Quan vaig veure el fum, em va entrar por i vaig trucar als bombers.

When I saw the smoke, I got scared and called the fire brigade.

The verb can also be transitive when an agent moves something inward: entrar les bicicletes al garatge, entrar les dades al sistema. This does not make every English transitive “enter” a safe word-for-word match. For a room or building, Catalan normally says entrar a la sala, not entrar la sala.

Abans que plogui, entra les cadires al magatzem i tanca les finestres.

Before it rains, take the chairs into the storeroom and close the windows.

(Regional: Valencian) first-person present entre and corresponding -e subjunctive forms are standard. (Regional: Balearic) zero-ending entr and characteristic first/second-person plural forms occur. These are complete regional patterns; Central entro/entri is simply this page's baseline.

Common Mistakes

❌ Vaig entrar la sala quan va sonar l'avís.

Incorrect for ordinary movement into a room—Catalan normally uses intransitive entrar plus a destination.

✅ Vaig entrar a la sala quan va sonar l'avís.

I went into the room when the announcement sounded.

❌ Jo entreixo a treballar a dos quarts de nou.

Incorrect—entrar is a first-conjugation verb and never takes incoative -eix-.

✅ Jo entro a treballar a dos quarts de nou.

I start work at half past eight.

❌ La normativa entrarà a vigor al gener.

Incorrect governed preposition—the fixed expression is entrar en vigor.

✅ La normativa entrarà en vigor al gener.

The regulations will come into force in January.

❌ No entra-hi fins que s'apagui el llum vermell.

Incorrect—negative commands place the clitic before a subjunctive form.

✅ No hi entris fins que s'apagui el llum vermell.

Don't go in until the red light goes out.

❌ M'he entrat a l'edifici per la porta del darrere.

Incorrect—the ordinary motion verb is not freely pronominal; use plain entrar.

✅ He entrat a l'edifici per la porta del darrere.

I entered the building through the back door.

Key Takeaways

Entrar is regular and forms compounds with haver. Use a for many concrete destinations, per for the route, and en in frequent state and abstract collocations. Locative hi gives entrar-hi and moves before a negative imperative. The verb is ordinarily plain entrar, not a freely pronominal entrar-se.

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