La meva filla mai vol cafè, però vol suc.

In Catalan, it is very normal to use the definite article with a possessive:

• la meva filla = my daughter
• el meu cotxe = my car
• la seva casa = his/her house

So unlike English, Catalan usually says the my daughter structurally, even though the meaning is simply my daughter.

Because the possessive has to agree with the noun it describes.

filla is:

• feminine
• singular

So the correct form is meva.

Compare:

• el meu fill = my son
• la meva filla = my daughter
• els meus fills = my sons / my children
• les meves filles = my daughters

Vol is the 3rd person singular present form of voler, which means to want.

So:

• jo vull = I want
• tu vols = you want
• ell/ella vol = he/she wants

In this sentence, vol means wants.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb form already shows who the subject is.

Here, vol tells you the subject is:

• he
• she
• or it

Since the sentence already has La meva filla, there is no need to add ella.

You could say La meva filla mai vol cafè, però ella vol suc, but that would add emphasis or contrast, and it is not the neutral default.

Here mai means never.

In Catalan, negative words like mai can come before the verb. When they do, they can make the sentence negative by themselves:

• La meva filla mai vol cafè = My daughter never wants coffee

So the order is very natural:

• mai vol = never wants

Because when a negative word such as mai comes before the verb, Catalan normally does not need no.

So these patterns are common:

• Mai vol cafè = She never wants coffee
• No vol mai cafè = She never wants coffee

Both are possible, but the structure changes:

• mai before the verb → usually no no
• mai after the verb → use no

So this sentence uses the first pattern.

Because here they refer to the substances in a general sense, not to a specific coffee or a specific juice.

So:

• vol cafè = wants coffee
• vol suc = wants juice

This is similar to English, where we often say want coffee or want juice without a/the.

If you wanted to be more specific, Catalan could use an article or an indefinite article:

• vol un cafè = wants a coffee / a cup of coffee
• vol el cafè = wants the coffee

Also, both nouns are masculine:

• el cafè
• el suc

The article is just omitted here because the meaning is general.

Because però vol suc is a new clause, and Catalan normally includes the verb again.

So the structure is:

• La meva filla mai vol cafè
• però vol suc

This is very natural and clear.

English can sometimes avoid repeating a verb, but Catalan often keeps it. Repeating vol makes the contrast explicit:

• she never wants coffee,
• but she does want juice.

Però means but.

The accent is part of the correct spelling. It also helps show the stressed vowel quality. In standard Catalan, it is written però, not pero.

So:

• però = but

The accent in cafè shows that the stress falls on the last syllable:

• ca-fè

It also marks the vowel as è, an open e sound.

Without the accent, the word would not follow normal Catalan spelling rules for stress. So the accent is important both for spelling and pronunciation.