La mare vol cafè sense llet.

In Catalan, it is very common to use the definite article with family members:

• la mare = mum / mother
• el pare = dad / father

So La mare vol cafè sense llet sounds natural in Catalan. English usually does not do this, but Catalan often does.

It can mean either, depending on context and tone.

• la mare can be a neutral the mother
• in everyday family context, it often feels like mum

So the exact English translation depends on the situation, but the Catalan word is the same.

Because grammatical gender in Catalan is not determined only by the ending.

Here, the article tells you clearly:

• la mare = feminine

Many feminine nouns do end in -a, but not all of them. So mare is just one of the common feminine nouns you learn as a whole word.

Vol is the third person singular present tense of voler (to want).

So:

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

In this sentence, la mare is singular, so vol is the correct form.

Because Catalan can use a noun without an article when talking about an unspecified amount of something, especially food and drink.

So:

• vol cafè = wants coffee / wants some coffee
• vol un cafè = wants a coffee / one coffee
• vol el cafè = wants the coffee (a specific coffee)

In your sentence, cafè is being treated as a substance, not as one specific counted item.

Yes, absolutely.

The difference is:

• vol cafè sense llet = wants coffee without milk
• vol un cafè sense llet = wants a coffee without milk

The version with un sounds a bit more like ordering or asking for one serving. The version without un is more general.

Because after sense (without), Catalan often uses a bare noun when talking about something in a general, non-specific way.

• sense llet = without milk
• sense sucre = without sugar

You would use la only if you meant some specific milk already known in the conversation:

• sense la llet que has comprat = without the milk that you bought

In your sentence, it just means milk in general, so sense llet is the natural choice.

The normal order here is very natural:

• La mare = subject
• vol = verb
• cafè sense llet = object + modifier

So La mare vol cafè sense llet is standard and straightforward.

Catalan can sometimes change word order for emphasis, but that would usually sound marked or more literary. For a learner, this basic order is the best one to use.

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

• ca-FÈ

It also tells you that the vowel is è, an open e sound.

Without the accent, the pronunciation rules would suggest a different stress pattern, so the accent is necessary.

The tricky part is ll.

Traditionally, ll in Catalan is a palatal sound, something like an English ly sound. A rough learner-friendly approximation is:

• llet ≈ lyet

In some modern accents, especially for some speakers, it may sound closer to yet.

So the important thing is: do not pronounce it like ordinary English l + l.

Usually, no. In most Catalan accents, b and v are pronounced the same or almost the same. So vol does not usually sound like English vol with a strong v.

A rough approximation is:

• vol ≈ bol

Also, the vowel is not exactly like English o. But for a beginner, getting the verb form right matters more than perfect pronunciation.

Because Catalan often drops subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

So Catalan often prefers:

• Vol cafè sense llet = She wants coffee without milk

If you say La mare vol cafè sense llet, the subject is already explicit, so adding ella would usually be unnecessary.

Catalan uses pronouns like ella mainly for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Yes, in a practical sense it is describing cafè.

• cafè sense llet = coffee without milk

So sense llet is a prepositional phrase that modifies cafè and tells you what kind of coffee it is. It works similarly to English without milk in coffee without milk.

They are:

• la mare = feminine
• el cafè = masculine
• la llet = feminine

This is useful because articles and some other words in Catalan agree with noun gender, so it is worth learning nouns together with their article whenever possible.