Dissabte vaig al cinema amb una amiga.

In Catalan, you often do not need a preposition before a day of the week when you mean on Saturday, on Monday, and so on.

So:

• Dissabte vaig al cinema = On Saturday I go to the cinema

This is very normal in Catalan.

A useful contrast:

• dissabte often refers to one specific Saturday, depending on context
• els dissabtes = on Saturdays / every Saturday

So if you wanted a habitual meaning, Catalan would usually make that clearer.

Yes. In Catalan, days of the week are normally written in lowercase:

• dissabte
• diumenge
• dilluns

It is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence.

So inside a sentence, you would normally write:

• Vaig al cinema dissabte.

That is one of the most common Catalan learner questions.

Vaig can be:

1. the present tense of anar in the jo form

   • jo vaig = I go

2. part of the very common periphrastic past

   • vaig anar = I went

The difference is what comes next.

• vaig al cinema → I go to the cinema
  Here, vaig is just the present-tense verb.

• vaig anar al cinema → I went to the cinema
  Here, vaig + infinitive makes a past tense.

So in your sentence, because vaig is followed by al cinema and not by an infinitive like anar, it means I go.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb.

• vaig already tells you the subject is I
• so jo is usually unnecessary

That means both of these are possible:

• Dissabte vaig al cinema amb una amiga.
• Dissabte jo vaig al cinema amb una amiga.

The first one is more neutral and more natural in most situations.

You would add jo mainly for emphasis or contrast, for example:

• Jo vaig al cinema, però ell es queda a casa.

Al is a contraction of:

• a
  • el = al

So:

• al cinema = to the cinema

This is exactly the same kind of idea as contractions in some other Romance languages.

More examples:

• a + el parc → al parc
• a + la platja → a la platja
  there is no contraction here
• a + els amics → als amics

So al is just the normal contracted form before a masculine singular noun with el.

Because the noun takes the article:

• el cinema = the cinema

So when you say to the cinema, Catalan uses:

• a + el cinema → al cinema

You cannot normally say a cinema here.

This is similar to English, where you also usually say to the cinema rather than just to cinema.

Because amiga is a feminine singular noun, so it takes the feminine singular indefinite article una.

• un amic = a male friend
• una amiga = a female friend

Catalan marks gender more clearly than English does, so the sentence tells you that the friend is female.

By itself, una amiga normally means a female friend.

It does not automatically mean girlfriend.

If someone wanted to say girlfriend, they would more often use words like:

• novia
• xicota in many varieties

So in this sentence, the most natural interpretation is simply with a female friend.

Amb means with.

So:

• amb una amiga = with a friend

It is the normal preposition to show accompaniment.

More examples:

• Vaig amb el meu germà. = I’m going with my brother.
• Parlo amb la professora. = I speak with the teacher.

The given order is very natural, but Catalan word order is somewhat flexible.

This sentence begins with the time expression:

• Dissabte vaig al cinema amb una amiga.

That is a very common way to organize information.

You could also say:

• Vaig al cinema amb una amiga dissabte.

But the original version sounds more natural if you want to highlight when.

So the word order is not completely fixed, but the chosen order is a very normal and useful one.

Usually, dissabte by itself suggests a specific Saturday, with the exact reference understood from context.

If you want every Saturday / on Saturdays, Catalan usually says:

• cada dissabte = every Saturday
• els dissabtes = on Saturdays / every Saturday

So learners should not automatically assume that dissabte means a repeated habit. Context matters, but the bare form often points to a particular Saturday.