Negating or questioning the Catalan periphrastic past does not change its basic structure: a special past auxiliary from anar agrees with the subject, and the lexical verb remains an infinitive. What changes is the material placed around that two-part verb. The central patterns are no + (weak pronoun) + auxiliary + infinitive and question word + (weak pronoun) + auxiliary + infinitive.
This matters because English builds past negatives and questions with did, while Catalan does not add another auxiliary. Catalan also uses word order to organize topic and focus, not an automatic English-style subject–auxiliary inversion rule.
The six forms stay intact
Negation and questioning do not alter person agreement. The auxiliary carries person and number; the infinitive carries the lexical meaning and keeps its ordinary spelling and stress.
| Person | Affirmative | Negative | Yes/no question |
|---|---|---|---|
| jo | vaig trucar | no vaig trucar | vaig trucar? |
| tu | vas trucar | no vas trucar | vas trucar? |
| ell / ella / vostè | va trucar | no va trucar | va trucar? |
| nosaltres | vam trucar | no vam trucar | vam trucar? |
| vosaltres | vau trucar | no vau trucar | vau trucar? |
| ells / elles / vostès | van trucar | no van trucar | van trucar? |
The forms vaig, vas, va, vam, vau, van are the contemporary general-standard baseline. The expanded variants vares, vàrem, vàreu, varen obey exactly the same syntax; see Regional Forms of the Periphrastic Past.
Ahir no vaig mirar el mòbil en tota la tarda.
Yesterday I didn't look at my phone all afternoon.
Vau arribar bé a casa?
Did you get home safely?
Negation: put no before the verbal group
The ordinary negative marker no comes before the auxiliary, not between the auxiliary and the infinitive. If a weak pronoun is placed before the verb, no precedes that pronoun: no + pronoun + va-form + infinitive.
La Clara no va acceptar l'oferta perquè l'horari no li anava bé.
Clara didn't accept the offer because the schedule didn't suit her.
No hi vam anar: plovia massa i estàvem cansats.
We didn't go there: it was raining too much and we were tired.
No me'n van dir res fins l'endemà.
They didn't tell me anything about it until the next day.
The auxiliary and infinitive form one tense even though another word may stand before them. Consequently, no cannot split them: no va venir, never va no venir. The same order holds with expanded auxiliaries: no vàrem entendre la pregunta.
Catalan negative words can also appear after the verb with no: no va venir ningú, no vam veure res, no hi va anar mai. Before the verb, careful standard usage commonly retains no: ningú no va venir, mai no hi va anar. In everyday speech, especially with a preverbal negative word, patterns without no also occur; the full treatment belongs on Negative Words.
Ningú no va protestar quan van anunciar el canvi.
Nobody objected when they announced the change.
The particle pas can reinforce or correct an assumption: No va pas marxar enfadat means roughly “He certainly didn't leave angry” or “It isn't the case that he left angry.” This is not the neutral way to make every sentence negative; its force and regional frequency vary.
Yes/no questions: intonation, not English inversion
In speech, rising or otherwise interrogative intonation can turn the clause into a yes/no question. In writing, question marks show the difference. Catalan does not move an auxiliary across the subject simply because a sentence is a question, and it does not insert an equivalent of did.
Because Catalan normally omits recoverable subject pronouns, a neutral question often begins directly with the auxiliary:
Vas guardar el rebut?
Did you keep the receipt?
Van trobar taula sense reservar?
Did they get a table without booking?
An overt subject can stand before the verb as an established topic: La teva germana va conduir tota la nit? It can also follow the verb when it is the focused or newly identified participant: Vas enviar tu el correu? The latter normally contrasts tu with someone else; it is not a mechanical question pattern.
Vas apagar tu el forn, o ho va fer l'Arnau?
Was it you who turned off the oven, or did Arnau do it?
Questions with què, qui, quan, on, com, and per què
A question word normally comes first, followed by any preverbal weak pronouns and then the periphrastic verb. The auxiliary still agrees with the subject.
Quan vau decidir que us quedaríeu una nit més?
When did you decide that you would stay one more night?
Per què no li vas contestar de seguida?
Why didn't you answer them right away?
On les van deixar, les claus del magatzem?
Where did they leave the warehouse keys?
When qui is itself the subject, use third-person singular agreement unless the context explicitly treats the referent as plural: Qui va trucar? There is no additional subject pronoun.
Qui va trencar el got?
Who broke the glass?
If the question asks about an object selected by a preposition, keep that preposition: Amb qui vas parlar?, A qui vau donar les entrades? English sometimes strands the preposition at the end; standard Catalan places it with the question phrase.
Negative questions and conversational answers
Negative questions often reveal an expectation: No vas rebre el missatge? suggests that the speaker thought you did. Answer according to the facts, and repeat enough of the verb to remove ambiguity.
—No vas rebre el missatge? —Sí, el vaig rebre, però era en una reunió.
—Didn't you get the message? —Yes, I got it, but I was in a meeting.
—Vau trobar entrades? —No, no en vam trobar cap.
—Did you find tickets? —No, we didn't find any.
The emphatic answer sí que is especially useful when correcting a negative assumption: Sí que hi vaig anar! (“I did go!”). Here sí que asserts the event; it does not change the tense.
—No vas avisar la Marta? —Sí que la vaig avisar; no em va contestar.
—Didn't you tell Marta? —I did tell her; she didn't answer me.
Periphrastic past, movement, and viewpoint
Compare vaig comprar pa with vaig a comprar pa. Without a, vaig comprar is a completed past event: “I bought bread.” With a, vaig is the lexical present of anar followed by a destination or purpose: “I'm going to buy bread.” The preposition is not optional punctuation; it separates two grammatical constructions.
Likewise, English I was talking does not force a Catalan progressive. A bounded event can be vaig parlar amb ella; background activity is often the imperfect parlava amb ella; vaig estar parlant amb ella highlights time spent in the activity. Choose a viewpoint, not an English surface form. For the central contrast, see Periphrastic Past vs. Imperfect.
Mood also depends on assertion. Per què va marxar? asks about an asserted departure. In No crec que marxés per això, the departure is presented inside a nonassertive frame and the imperfect subjunctive is natural. A familiar trigger does not choose mood by itself; the intended commitment to the event does.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting no between the auxiliary and infinitive.
❌ La Júlia va no venir a sopar.
Incorrect — no cannot split the periphrastic past.
✅ La Júlia no va venir a sopar.
Júlia didn't come to dinner.
2. Copying English did with an extra Catalan verb.
❌ Va fer trucar-te ahir?
Incorrect for ‘Did they call you yesterday?’ — this means something like ‘Did they make someone call you?’
✅ Et va trucar ahir?
Did they call you yesterday?
3. Copying Spanish ir a + infinitive into the Catalan past.
❌ Ahir vaig a renovar el passaport.
Incorrect for a completed past event — a introduces movement or prospective meaning.
✅ Ahir vaig renovar el passaport.
Yesterday I renewed my passport.
4. Inverting the subject in every question.
❌ Va la Núria reservar l'hotel?
Unnatural as a neutral question — this copies an automatic inversion strategy.
✅ La Núria va reservar l'hotel?
Did Núria book the hotel?
5. Using a progressive merely because English does.
❌ Quan era petit, vaig estar jugant al carrer cada tarda.
Wrong viewpoint for a repeated childhood habit.
✅ Quan era petit, jugava al carrer cada tarda.
When I was little, I played in the street every afternoon.
Key Takeaways
Keep the periphrastic verb together: no and preverbal pronouns go before the auxiliary, while the infinitive remains unchanged. Form questions through intonation or a question word, not through English-style did or obligatory inversion. Above all, read the sentence's viewpoint and assertion status: a completed asserted event favors the periphrastic past, but a habitual background or a nonasserted subordinate event may require another tense or mood.
Related Topics
- Forming the Periphrastic PastA2 — Build Catalan’s ordinary past with the auxiliary forms vaig, vas, va, vam, vau, van and an unchanged infinitive.
- Weak Pronouns with the Periphrastic PastB1 — Place Catalan weak pronouns before the past auxiliary or, where licensed, attach them to the infinitive.
- Vaig Parlar versus Vaig a ParlarA2 — Distinguish completed-past vaig parlar from present motion or restricted imminence in vaig a parlar.
- Basic Negation with NoA1 — How Catalan no negates finite and nonfinite predicates, combines with clitics, and answers questions without English-style auxiliary verbs.
- Yes–No QuestionsA1 — How Catalan asks total questions through intonation and punctuation, without English do-support, and how subject position, tags, and short answers shape the expected response.
- Subject Position in QuestionsA2 — How Catalan places, omits, or postpones a question's subject according to grammatical role, information status, and contrast rather than English auxiliary inversion.