I'm not Catalan, but IMHO "vaig comprar" means "I bought", and "jo comprava" can mean either: * "I was buying" - Què feies que no agafaves el mòbil? [You wouldn't pick up the phone, what were you doing?] - Comprava. [I was shopping.] * "I used to buy" - De petit, sovint em comprava llibres de novel.les negres. [When I was a kid, I often used to buy mistery novels.] Sorry for the bad examples.

Hi.... how are you??? I would try to explain these sentences. Jo vaig comprar is the same as I bought and jo comprava, the translation is the same but is another tense.... I explian this very bad!!! In catala the verbs are very difficult. :9 Nosaltres miravem la televisio is in past tense.... and nosaltres anem a mirar la televisio is the same as We are going to watch tv, It is like a future, it isn´t happened yet..... Examples.... This evening I´m going to visit my mother..... and the past tense it would be.... yesterday I visited my mother. I hope you understand a little my words... and don´t worry I will be in touch....

I think Fabian is right =)

Hello there! I am also learning catalan, but here is something that might help you with the first part of your question. I think the second part was covered by mselva. "El passat perifràstic" is used for actions that occurred in the past at a point in time. For example: Per Sant Jordi, jo vaig comprar un llibre. "El Pretèrit perfet", on the other hand, is used for actions that occurred in the past and over a period of time. For example: quan era petit, jo comprava moltes llaminadures.