A la mare li agrada beure te.

Because agradar is built differently from English to like.

In Catalan, the person who experiences the liking is usually introduced with a:

• A la mare = to the mother / mother

So A la mare li agrada beure te is structured more like:

• To mother, drinking tea is pleasing

That is why a appears before la mare.

Li is an indirect object pronoun meaning to him / to her / to you (formal).

In this sentence, it refers back to la mare:

• A la mare ... li ... = to mother ... to her ...

So li and a la mare point to the same person.

Yes, from an English point of view it can feel repetitive, but in Catalan this is very normal.

This is called clitic doubling. Catalan often uses:

• the full phrase: A la mare
• and the pronoun: li

together in the same sentence.

So this is a standard pattern, especially with verbs like agradar:

• A la mare li agrada...
• Al noi li interessa...
• A la professora li encanta...

You can think of li as an expected grammatical marker, even when the full noun is already stated.

Because agradar does not work like English to like.

English:

• Mother likes tea

Catalan with agradar is closer to:

• Tea pleases mother
• or here, Drinking tea pleases mother

So the verb agrees with the thing that is pleasing, not with the person who likes it.

In this sentence, the thing that pleases is beure te (drinking tea), which functions as a singular idea, so the verb is:

• agrada

Because beure te is an infinitive phrase, and an infinitive phrase is treated as a singular unit.

So:

• beure te = drinking tea
• this whole action is the subject of agrada

That is why Catalan uses:

• agrada = singular

Compare:

• A la mare li agrada beure te. = She likes drinking tea.
• A la mare li agraden els tes exòtics. = She likes exotic teas.

In the second sentence, els tes exòtics is plural, so the verb becomes agraden.

Because Catalan often uses the infinitive to express an action in a general sense, just like English uses drinking in She likes drinking tea.

So:

• beure = to drink
• beure te = drinking tea / to drink tea

After agradar, an infinitive can act as the thing being liked:

• M’agrada llegir. = I like reading.
• Li agrada cuinar. = He/She likes cooking.

In Catalan, with food and drink, a bare noun is often possible when speaking generally, especially after an infinitive.

So:

• beure te = to drink tea

This sounds natural as a general activity.

You may also see articles in other contexts, but here the version without an article is perfectly normal because it refers to tea in a general sense, not a specific tea.

Literally, la mare means the mother, but in Catalan family terms are very often used with the definite article where English would use a possessive.

Depending on context, la mare can mean:

• the mother
• my mother
• mum / mom

So the article is very natural here.

Yes. Catalan allows some flexibility.

For example:

• A la mare li agrada beure te.
• Li agrada beure te a la mare.

Both are possible, though the first one is clearer and more neutral for learners.

Putting A la mare first helps set up who the experiencer is. It is a very common and natural order.

In Catalan, tea is written te, without an accent.

That is just the standard Catalan spelling:

• te = tea

This is different from Spanish, where té has an accent.

So in this sentence, te is simply the Catalan noun for tea.

Yes. With agradar, the verb agrees with the thing liked.

Singular thing or action:

• A la mare li agrada beure te.
• A la mare li agrada el cafè.

Plural things:

• A la mare li agraden els llibres.
• A la mare li agraden el te i el cafè.

So one very important pattern is:

• agrada for singular or infinitive ideas
• agraden for plural things