Catalan's everyday past tense is built with the helper verb (vaig, vas, va, vam, vau, van) plus the plain infinitive. The helper shows who did it; the main verb never changes.
Examples
- Ahir vaig anar a Girona.
- Yesterday I went to Girona.
- Què vas fer el cap de setmana?
- What did you do at the weekend?
- Vam menjar paella a la platja.
- We ate paella at the beach.
- No van arribar fins a la nit.
- They didn't arrive until night.
The mistake to avoid
Don't conjugate the second verb: it's vaig menjar, never *vaig vaig menjar* or *vaig menjava*.
Where this fits in
El passat i l'últim cap de setmana, Catalan A2: Talk about the past: yesterday, last weekend, and travel memories.