Conjugation of venir

Venir means “to come”: movement toward the speaker, the addressee, or another place treated as the conversational center. That last idea matters because English “come” and Catalan venir do not divide space in exactly the same way. Catalan often chooses anar when the destination is not the deictic center, even where English idiom says “come.”

Its principal parts form a compact irregular family: vinc in the present, venia in the imperfect, velar vingu- in the past and subjunctive, contracted vindr- in the future and conditional, and participle vingut. The infinitive spelling alone does not predict all of them.

Compare the complete motion partner on the conjugation of anar page when the intended direction is away from the conversational center.

Nonfinite forms

The gerund is venint, not vinguent. In compound tenses vingut does not agree with the subject: les veïnes han vingut. Agreeing forms are adjectival or substantivized, as in els nouvinguts i les nouvingudes.

Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses

Only first-person present vinc has the velar consonant; the remaining forms are vens, ve, venim, veniu, and venen. The forms vens and venen are also forms of vendre “to sell,” so their complement and context identify the verb. Venir is not incoative, and forms such as veneixo are impossible. The completed past normally heard in conversation is vaig venir. Synthetic vinguí, vingueres... is especially (formal/literary) in much Central Catalan, while remaining spoken in parts of the Valencian and Balearic territories (regional).

Future and conditional contract to vindr-, parallel to tenir → tindré. Do not write veniré. The intervening d belongs to every person in both series.

Indicative: compound tenses

Compound forms use haver + vingut, never ser + vingut in the contemporary standard.

Past anterior hagué vingut and its periphrastic equivalent va haver vingut are restricted mainly to (formal/literary) sequencing. The pluperfect is the normal way to locate an earlier arrival in ordinary narration.

Subjunctive: simple and compound

The velar stem vingu- runs through both simple subjunctives. English usually leaves “come” unchanged after “want,” “doubt,” or “if,” so the Catalan mood and person endings carry information English does not.

The last two periphrastic subjunctives are (regional/formal) rather than default conversational choices.

Imperative and deictic meaning

The affirmative familiar pair vine–veniu switches stems; negative commands use vingu-. Pronouns follow an affirmative command (vine amb mi has none; vine-hi has hi) but precede a negative one (no hi vinguis).

Choosing between venir and anar depends on the conversational center, not on the English word. If the speaker is waiting at the office, Vine a l'oficina invites motion toward that center. Someone at home describing tomorrow’s trip to the office normally says Demà aniré a l'oficina. The addressee’s location can be treated as the center in invitations and calls, but context—not an automatic translation of “come”—licenses that perspective.

Prepositions, weak pronouns, and fixed uses

Venir de + place marks origin; venir a + infinitive gives the purpose of the movement. A known destination can be resumed by hi: Vindràs a la reunió? Sí, hi vindré. The clitic does not change the conjugation.

Venir bé/mal means “suit, be convenient,” with the person represented as an indirect object. Venir de gust means “appeal, feel like,” again with the experiencer as an indirect object. English makes the person the subject (“I feel like…”), so preserve the Catalan perspective: the coffee appeals to me.

Plain venir is normally nonpronominal. Venir-se'n exists, especially when departure from another place or emphatic movement toward the deictic center is foregrounded (se'n va venir amb nosaltres), but it is not a free replacement for every occurrence of venir. Likewise, do not copy obligatory en from anar-se'n into ordinary venir.

The accepted variant infinitive vindre is especially characteristic of Valencian and northwestern usage; formal cross-regional prose more often uses venir. (Regional: Balearic) first-person present venc is standard. (Regional: Valencian) present subjunctive commonly has vinga, vingues, vinga, vinguem, vingueu, vinguen, and the imperfect may use vinguera.... General vinc, vingui, and vingués are the baseline here; regional alternatives form consistent systems rather than isolated exceptions.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

Organize the verb around vinc, venia, vingué, vindré, vingui, and vingut. The velar stem dominates the past and subjunctive, while future and conditional require vindr-. Use venir for motion toward a contextual center, not wherever English happens to use “come.” Learn venir de, venir a, venir bé, and venir de gust as distinct constructions, and treat pronominal venir-se'n as meaningful rather than automatic.