El gos no pot parar de bordar.

In Catalan, it is very common to use the definite article with a noun when talking about a specific thing or animal.

• el = the
• gos = dog

So El gos means the dog.

You can sometimes omit the article in other contexts, but here El gos is the normal way to say the dog.

Gos is a masculine noun in Catalan, so it takes the masculine singular article el.

• el gos = the dog
• la gossa = the female dog / bitch

As in many Romance languages, nouns have grammatical gender, and the article has to match the noun.

Pot is the 3rd person singular form of the verb poder, which means to be able to / can.

So:

• jo puc = I can
• tu pots = you can
• ell/ella pot = he/she/it can

In El gos no pot parar de bordar, pot agrees with el gos, which is singular.

In Catalan, the negative particle no usually goes directly before the conjugated verb.

So:

• pot = can
• no pot = cannot / can’t

This is very standard Catalan word order:

• El gos no menja = The dog doesn’t eat.
• El gos no pot... = The dog can’t...

Parar de + infinitive means to stop doing something.

So:

• parar de bordar = to stop barking
• parar de parlar = to stop talking
• parar de córrer = to stop running

In this sentence, no pot parar de bordar literally means cannot stop barking.

Because in Catalan, the pattern is:

parar de + infinitive

The preposition de is required in this structure.

Examples:

• parar de riure = to stop laughing
• parar de plorar = to stop crying
• parar de bordar = to stop barking

You should learn parar de as a set expression.

Because after parar de, Catalan uses the infinitive.

So the structure is:

• parar de + infinitive

That is why you get:

• parar de bordar = to stop barking

English often uses -ing after stop in this meaning, but Catalan does not do that here.

Yes. Word by word, it is roughly:

• El gos = the dog
• no pot = cannot
• parar de = stop
• bordar = bark

So the full literal sense is:

The dog cannot stop barking.

That is also the natural English translation.

Yes. El gos no para de bordar is actually very common and often more direct.

• no para de bordar = doesn’t stop barking / keeps barking

Compare:

• El gos no pot parar de bordar = The dog can’t stop barking.
• El gos no para de bordar = The dog won’t stop barking / doesn’t stop barking.

Both are correct, but no para de bordar can sound a bit more straightforward in everyday speech.

The infinitive is poder.

Here is the relevant part of the present tense:

• jo puc = I can
• tu pots = you can
• ell/ella pot = he/she/it can
• nosaltres podem = we can
• vosaltres podeu = you all can
• ells/elles poden = they can

So pot comes from poder.

Bordar is the normal verb for to bark.

Examples:

• El gos borda = The dog barks.
• Els gossos borden = The dogs bark.
• Ha parat de bordar = It has stopped barking.

It is a regular -ar verb, so it is a useful one to remember.

Because Catalan often does not need a subject pronoun when the subject is already stated or understood.

Here the subject is explicitly given as El gos, so there is no need to add a separate word meaning it.

Catalan normally avoids unnecessary subject pronouns:

• El gos borda = The dog barks.
• not something like El gos ell borda

The noun El gos already does the job.

A very common everyday version would be:

El gos no para de bordar.

Another natural option in some contexts is:

El gos no deixa de bordar.

Both mean roughly that the dog keeps barking or won’t stop barking. The original sentence, El gos no pot parar de bordar, is perfectly correct, but these alternatives may sound especially common in speech depending on context.