Veure means “to see,” but it also covers meeting someone, understanding what is happening, considering evidence, and several constructions with infinitives and weak pronouns. Its paradigm alternates visibly among veig, veia, veié, veuré, vegi, and the irregular participle vist.
English “look” and “see” do not divide the same way as Catalan. Mirar normally names the deliberate act of looking or watching; veure names visual perception or its result. The perception construction itself is developed on perception verbs with an infinitive.
Nonfinite forms
| Form | Catalan | English guide |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | veure | to see |
| Perfect infinitive | haver vist | to have seen |
| Gerund | veient | seeing |
| Perfect gerund | havent vist | having seen |
| Participle | vist; vista, vistos / vists, vistes | seen |
Vist is irregular. Compound tenses normally keep it invariable: hem vist les fotos. With a preceding third-person direct-object pronoun, agreement (les hem vistes) remains traditional and current, especially in careful usage; invariable les hem vist is also widespread. As an adjective or passive participle, agreement is obligatory: una escena vista des del pont.
Indicative: simple and periphrastic tenses
| Tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | veig | veus | veu | veiem | veieu | veuen |
| Imperfect | veia | veies | veia | vèiem | vèieu | veien |
| Periphrastic past | vaig veure | vas veure | va veure | vam veure | vau veure | van veure |
| Simple past | viu | veieres / veres | veié / veu | veiérem / vérem | veiéreu / véreu | veieren / veren |
| Future | veuré | veuràs | veurà | veurem | veureu | veuran |
| Conditional | veuria | veuries | veuria | veuríem | veuríeu | veurien |
The present singular and third-person plural preserve the diphthong (veig, veus, veu, veuen), while veiem and veieu have two syllables and no diaeresis. In the imperfect, the written grave accents in vèiem and vèieu are obligatory. Future and conditional are built transparently on the full infinitive. Veure belongs to the second conjugation and never takes the incoative extension -eix-; forms such as veureixo are impossible.
The periphrastic past is the neutral conversational form. The synthetic past has genuine doublets and is strongly associated with (formal/literary) narration in much Central usage, although it remains spoken regionally. First-person viu can look like present viu “he/she lives” from viure; only syntax supplies the analysis.
Des del meu despatx veig la teulada del mercat i una part del campanar.
From my office I can see the market roof and part of the bell tower.
Sense les ulleres no vèiem bé els números de l'andana.
Without our glasses we couldn't see the platform numbers clearly.
Diumenge vam veure un documental sobre els aiguamolls de l'Empordà.
On Sunday we watched a documentary about the wetlands of Empordà.
Ja veureu que el camí és més curt del que sembla al mapa.
You'll see that the path is shorter than it looks on the map.
Compound tenses and subjunctive
| Indicative tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present perfect | he vist | has vist | ha vist | hem vist | heu vist | han vist |
| Pluperfect | havia vist | havies vist | havia vist | havíem vist | havíeu vist | havien vist |
| Past anterior | haguí vist | hagueres vist | hagué vist | haguérem vist | haguéreu vist | hagueren vist |
| Future perfect | hauré vist | hauràs vist | haurà vist | haurem vist | haureu vist | hauran vist |
| Conditional perfect | hauria vist | hauries vist | hauria vist | hauríem vist | hauríeu vist | haurien vist |
| Subjunctive tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | vegi | vegis | vegi | vegem | vegeu | vegin |
| Imperfect | veiés | veiessis | veiés | veiéssim | veiéssiu | veiessin |
| Present perfect | hagi vist | hagis vist | hagi vist | hàgim vist | hàgiu vist | hagin vist |
| Pluperfect | hagués vist | haguessis vist | hagués vist | haguéssim vist | haguéssiu vist | haguessin vist |
The present subjunctive uses veg-, not veig-: Espero que ho vegis. The imperfect instead has vei-. (Regional: Valencian) standard present forms include veja, veges, veja, vegem, vegeu, vegen, and the imperfect may use vera.... Do not mix veja into an otherwise general-Catalan row as though it were an isolated exception.
No crec que la Clara vegi el rètol des d'aquella taula.
I don't think Clara can see the sign from that table.
Si haguéssim vist l'avís abans, hauríem agafat una altra carretera.
If we had seen the notice earlier, we would have taken another road.
Three additional periphrastic rows complete the reference. The subjunctive rows have restricted (regional/formal) distribution; ordinary speech normally prefers veiés and hagués vist.
| Periphrastic tense | jo | tu | ell / ella / vostè | nosaltres | vosaltres | ells / elles / vostès |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative past anterior | vaig haver vist | vas haver vist | va haver vist | vam haver vist | vau haver vist | van haver vist |
| Subjunctive past | vagi veure | vagis veure | vagi veure | vàgim veure | vàgiu veure | vagin veure |
| Subjunctive past anterior | vagi haver vist | vagis haver vist | vagi haver vist | vàgim haver vist | vàgiu haver vist | vagin haver vist |
Imperative and pronouns
| Addressee | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tu | veges / ves | no vegis |
| vostè | vegi | no vegi |
| nosaltres | vegem | no vegem |
| vosaltres | vegeu / veieu | no vegeu |
| vostès | vegin | no vegin |
Bare ves has become especially common in expressive Ves! and Ves per on!; context distinguishes it from the identical imperative of anar. For literal visual ability with veure-hi, the familiar forms are veu-hi and veieu-hi, not veges-hi. Affirmative pronouns follow the command (vegeu-ho), while negative ones precede it (no ho vegeu).
Direct-object clitics are extremely frequent: la veig, els hem vist. Reciprocal veure's means “see/meet one another”: ens veiem dijous. Locative hi in veure-hi does not simply replace a place; it forms the conventional verb for having sight or being able to see. Compare No veig la pantalla “I don't see the screen” and No hi veig “I can't see.”
—Quan ens tornem a veure? —Dijous al vespre em va perfecte.
—When shall we see each other again? —Thursday evening works perfectly for me.
Amb tanta boira no hi veig gens; aturem-nos al voral.
In this much fog I can't see at all; let's pull over.
Vegeu-ho vosaltres mateixos abans de prendre cap decisió.
See it for yourselves before making any decision.
Perception, understanding, and collocations
Veure + bare infinitive presents an event directly perceived: Vaig veure sortir la metgessa. The perceived participant can be a direct object: La vaig veure sortir. A finite clause instead packages propositional content: Veig que tens pressa. Positive veig que... normally asserts what follows; negated no veig que... can favor a subjunctive when the speaker denies identifying the situation.
Des del balcó vam veure descarregar els músics darrere del teatre.
From the balcony we saw the musicians unloading behind the theater.
Several high-frequency expressions extend sight metaphorically: veure clar “understand clearly,” veure's amb cor de “feel capable of,” tenir a veure amb “have to do with,” and a veure “let's see.” A veure is a preposition plus infinitive, never haber. Catalan also uses veure algú naturally for meeting or visiting someone, without the Spanish-style personal a.
Ara ho veig clar: les dues factures corresponen a comandes diferents.
Now I see it clearly: the two invoices correspond to different orders.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ahir vaig veure a la Joana a la biblioteca.
Incorrect as a neutral pattern—Catalan does not automatically mark a human direct object with a.
✅ Ahir vaig veure la Joana a la biblioteca.
Yesterday I saw Joana at the library.
❌ Espero que ho veus tan clar com nosaltres.
Incorrect—the hoped-for perception requires present subjunctive vegis.
✅ Espero que ho vegis tan clar com nosaltres.
I hope you see it as clearly as we do.
❌ Hem veure la mateixa exposició dues vegades.
Incorrect—a compound tense requires the participle vist.
✅ Hem vist la mateixa exposició dues vegades.
We have seen the same exhibition twice.
❌ No veig amb aquestes ulleres tan ratllades.
Incomplete for general visual ability—the lexical construction is veure-hi.
✅ No hi veig amb aquestes ulleres tan ratllades.
I can't see with these badly scratched glasses.
❌ Haber si demà podem parlar amb calma.
Incorrect—Catalan a veure contains the infinitive veure, not haver.
✅ A veure si demà podem parlar amb calma.
Let's see whether we can talk calmly tomorrow.
Key Takeaways
Remember veig, veia, viu/veié, vegi, veiés, and vist. Use vaig veure for the ordinary completed past and recognize the synthetic series in literary or regional use. Distinguish deliberate mirar from perceptual veure, preserve hi in lexical veure-hi, and use veure's when the participants see or meet one another.
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Start learning Catalan →Related Topics
- Perception Verbs plus InfinitiveB1 — Use veure, sentir, and escoltar with a bare infinitive to present a perceived event, and contrast the whole-event view with gerund and finite alternatives.
- Common Irregular Past ParticiplesA2 — Learn Catalan's high-frequency irregular participles through reusable families and contrasts.
- Velar and Irregular Subjunctive StemsB1 — Build Catalan present-subjunctive forms such as digui, tingui, vingui, pugui, and conegui from their irregular velar stems.
- Hi for Prepositional ComplementsB1 — Use hi to resume known complements governed by a, en, amb, or per without confusing them with direct and indirect objects.
- Reciprocal PronounsA2 — Express mutual action with plural weak pronouns and disambiguate it with l'un a l'altre and related reciprocal phrases.