Ahir la meva germana també va anar al restaurant.

Ahir means yesterday, and Catalan often puts time expressions near the beginning of the sentence, just like English can do:

• Ahir la meva germana també va anar al restaurant.
• La meva germana també va anar al restaurant ahir.

Both are possible, but starting with ahir gives the time a little more prominence. It is very natural word order.

In standard Catalan, possessives like meu / meva / teus / seva are usually used together with a definite article:

• la meva germana = my sister
• el meu amic = my friend
• la seva casa = his/her house

This is different from English, where you normally say just my sister without the.

So la meva germana is the normal Catalan pattern.

Because germana is a feminine singular noun.

The possessive has to agree with the noun:

• el meu germà = my brother
• la meva germana = my sister

So:

• meu = masculine singular
• meva = feminine singular

També means also or too.

In this sentence, it is placed before the verb phrase:

• la meva germana també va anar...

That is a very common position in Catalan. It shows that my sister also went.

Catalan word order with també is somewhat flexible, but this placement is very natural and common.

This is one of the most important features of Catalan grammar.

Va anar is the periphrastic past, a very common way to express the simple past in Catalan.

It is formed with:

• a form of anar in the present
• plus the infinitive of the main verb

So here:

• va
  • anar = went

Even though anar on its own means to go, in va anar the whole structure means went.

This tense is extremely common in spoken and written Catalan.

Va is the third-person singular present form of anar in the periphrastic past construction.

Here it matches la meva germana, which is she:

• jo vaig anar = I went
• tu vas anar = you went
• ell/ella va anar = he/she went
• nosaltres vam anar = we went

So va is used because the subject is singular and corresponds to she.

Because a + el contracts to al in Catalan.

So:

• a + el restaurant → al restaurant

This is very similar to other contractions in Catalan, such as:

• de + el → del

So al restaurant simply means to the restaurant.

Yes. Anar means to go, and anar a means to go to a place.

So:

• anar al restaurant = to go to the restaurant
• anar a casa = to go home
• anar a Barcelona = to go to Barcelona

In your sentence, because it is in the past, va anar al restaurant means went to the restaurant.

Yes, to some extent. Catalan word order is flexible, although some versions sound more natural than others depending on emphasis.

For example:

• Ahir la meva germana també va anar al restaurant.
• La meva germana també va anar al restaurant ahir.
• Ahir també va anar al restaurant la meva germana.

These all work, but they do not all have exactly the same emphasis.

The original sentence is a very neutral and natural way to say it.

Yes, but va anar is the most common everyday choice.

Catalan also has a simple past form, especially in more formal or literary contexts in some varieties:

• anà

So va anar and anà can both mean went, but va anar is the form learners will see and hear very often in modern Catalan.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

ah-YEER luh MAY-vuh jer-MAH-nuh tum-BAY vah uh-NAR uhl res-tow-RANT

A few useful notes:

• ahir has the stress on the second syllable
• meva sounds roughly like MAY-vuh
• també has stress on the last syllable
• anar has stress on the second syllable
• the final -nt in restaurant is pronounced

Pronunciation varies somewhat by dialect, but this gives a good general idea.

Catalan often allows the subject to be omitted when it is clear from the verb form. This is called being a pro-drop language.

So in context, you could say:

• Ahir també va anar al restaurant.

That could mean Yesterday she also went to the restaurant, if it is already clear who she is.

But in your sentence, la meva germana is included for clarity or emphasis.