El gos borda.

A simple English-friendly approximation is:

el goss BOR-duh

A bit more carefully, in Central Catalan it is often pronounced roughly like:

əl gos BOR-duh

A few helpful notes:

• el is often reduced, with a very short vowel.
• gos has an o like the o in British not or off, not like English go.
• borda is stressed on the first syllable: BOR-da.
• The r in Catalan is usually tapped, similar to the Spanish single r.

El is the masculine singular definite article, so it means the.

So:

• el gos = the dog

Catalan articles change for gender and number:

• el = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular
• els = masculine plural
• les = feminine plural

Because gos is a masculine singular noun, it takes el.

Yes. Gos is a masculine singular noun meaning dog.

That is why you say:

• el gos = the dog

Its feminine form is:

• la gossa = the female dog

And the plural is:

• els gossos = the dogs

So the sentence is built with a masculine singular subject:

• el
  • gos

Because borda is the conjugated form, while bordar is the infinitive.

• bordar = to bark
• borda = barks / is barking

Here, el gos is third person singular (the dog), so the present-tense verb form is:

• (ell/ella) borda = he/she/it barks

A few present-tense forms of bordar:

• jo bordo = I bark
• tu bordes = you bark
• ell/ella borda = he/she/it barks
• nosaltres bordem = we bark
• vosaltres bordeu = you all bark
• ells/elles borden = they bark

It can mean either, depending on context.

Catalan simple present often covers both:

• The dog barks
• The dog is barking

So El gos borda could describe:

• a general fact or habit: The dog barks
• what is happening now: The dog is barking

If the context needs it, Catalan can also use other structures to be more specific, but the simple present is very common.

Normally, no. Gos borda would sound incomplete or unnatural in standard Catalan.

Catalan usually uses an article with a noun like this:

• El gos borda = The dog barks
• Un gos borda = A dog barks

So if you are talking about a specific dog, use el. If you mean any dog or an unspecified dog, use un.

Yes, you could say Borda el gos, but the most neutral and basic order is:

• El gos borda

That is subject + verb, like English.

Borda el gos is possible, but it sounds more marked. It may be used for:

• emphasis
• literary style
• a particular rhythm
• answering a question

For a beginner, the safest pattern is:

• subject + verb

Because Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed. This is called being a pro-drop language.

The verb ending already shows the person and number:

• borda tells you it is third person singular

So Catalan usually says:

• El gos borda

not:

• Ell borda

Using ell would usually add emphasis, contrast, or clarification. In a normal sentence, it is unnecessary.

You add no before the verb:

• El gos no borda = The dog does not bark / The dog isn’t barking

This is the standard way to make a sentence negative in Catalan:

• subject + no
  • verb

In writing, the simplest way is often just to use intonation or a question mark:

• El gos borda? = Is the dog barking? / Does the dog bark?

Catalan does not need an auxiliary verb like English do.

So English changes:

• The dog barks → Does the dog bark?

But Catalan can keep the same words and rely on intonation:

• El gos borda → El gos borda?

You need to change both the noun phrase and the verb:

• El gos borda = The dog barks
• Els gossos borden = The dogs bark

Changes:

• el → els
• gos → gossos
• borda → borden

This is a good example of agreement in Catalan:

• the article agrees with the noun
• the verb agrees with the subject

Yes, bordar is a regular -ar verb.

That is useful because many common Catalan verbs follow the same pattern. Once you learn how regular -ar verbs work, forms like borda become much easier to recognize.

So in this sentence, there is nothing irregular going on:

• gos = noun
• borda = regular present-tense verb form

A few small things:

1. Catalan uses articles more consistently than English in some contexts.
   Here, el is completely natural.

2. The present tense is flexible.
   Borda can mean both barks and is barking.

3. No auxiliary is needed for questions or negatives in the same way as English.
   Compare:

   • English: Does the dog bark?
   • Catalan: El gos borda?

4. Pronunciation may not match spelling exactly for an English speaker.
   Especially the vowels and the tapped r in borda.

So the sentence is short, but it already shows several important Catalan patterns.