Abans de la feina, m'agrada caminar al parc.

In Catalan, abans usually combines with de to mean before:

• abans de la feina = before work
• abans de sortir = before leaving

So de is part of the normal pattern. English uses just before, but Catalan usually uses abans de.

A useful contrast:

• abans on its own can mean earlier / previously
• abans de + noun/infinitive means before + noun/verb

Examples:

• He arribat abans. = I arrived earlier.
• Abans de sopar, estudio. = Before dinner, I study.

Catalan often uses the definite article more often than English does. So where English says before work, Catalan commonly says abans de la feina.

This is very normal with everyday nouns:

• vaig a la feina = I’m going to work
• surto de la feina = I’m leaving work
• després de la classe = after class

So even though English leaves out the, Catalan often keeps it.

Both relate to work, but they are not always identical.

• feina often means work, job, or task/work to do
• treball often means work in a more general or abstract sense, and can also mean a piece of work, project, or assignment

In everyday speech, anar a la feina and abans de la feina are very common for talking about going to work or your job routine.

So in this sentence, la feina sounds very natural for before work.

Catalan agradar works like Spanish gustar and differently from English to like.

Literally, m'agrada caminar is closer to:

• Walking pleases me
• or I like walking

Breakdown:

• m' = to me
• agrada = is pleasing / pleases

So the thing being liked is what controls the verb:

• M'agrada caminar. = I like walking.
  Literally: Walking pleases me.
• M'agraden els parcs. = I like parks.
  Literally: Parks please me.

That is why you do not say jo agrado for I like.

Because the subject of agrada is caminar, and an infinitive counts as singular.

So:

• M'agrada caminar. = I like walking.
  (caminar is one action, so singular)

Compare:

• M'agrada el parc. = I like the park.
• M'agraden els parcs. = I like parks.

If the thing liked is singular or an infinitive, use agrada.
If it is plural, use agraden.

After agradar, Catalan usually uses an infinitive when talking about liking an activity in general.

So:

• M'agrada caminar. = I like walking.
• M'agrada llegir. = I like reading.
• M'agrada cuinar. = I like cooking.

If you said camino, that means I walk, which would create a different kind of sentence.

So caminar is correct because the sentence is talking about the activity itself.

m' is the reduced form of em, the unstressed pronoun meaning to me.

Before a vowel or silent h, em usually becomes m':

• m'agrada instead of em agrada
• m'interessa instead of em interessa

This is just a normal spelling rule to make pronunciation smoother.

So:

• em + agrada → m'agrada

Because a + el contracts to al in Catalan.

So:

• a + el parc → al parc

This is very common:

• Vaig al mercat. = I go to the market.
• Som al centre. = We are in the center.

Similarly:

• de + el → del

Example:

• Vinc del parc. = I’m coming from the park.

In many everyday contexts, caminar al parc is understood as walk in the park / walk at the park.

However, depending on context, a can sometimes sound a little broad. If you want to be more explicit, you might also hear:

• caminar pel parc = walk through/around the park
• caminar pel parc cada matí = walk through the park every morning

So al parc is natural, but pel parc can sometimes express movement within the park more clearly.

Yes. Catalan word order is fairly flexible.

Your sentence:

• Abans de la feina, m'agrada caminar al parc.

Another natural order:

• M'agrada caminar al parc abans de la feina.

Both are correct. The version with Abans de la feina at the front gives that time phrase a bit more emphasis, like Before work, I like to walk in the park.

It is common and helpful, but not always absolutely necessary.

Because Abans de la feina is an introductory time phrase, a comma is often used:

• Abans de la feina, m'agrada caminar al parc.

Without the comma, the sentence is still understandable:

• Abans de la feina m'agrada caminar al parc.

The comma simply makes the structure clearer in writing.

Yes, and it is slightly more specific.

• Abans de la feina = before work
• Abans d'anar a la feina = before going to work

The first one is shorter and more general.
The second one focuses on the action of going to work.

Both are natural, but the original sentence is more compact and idiomatic for a routine.

Catalan often omits subject pronouns when they are not needed, because the verb or structure already makes the meaning clear.

Here, m'agrada already shows that the person involved is me / I.

So:

• M'agrada caminar al parc. = I like walking in the park.

You could add a mi for emphasis:

• A mi m'agrada caminar al parc.

But normally, you do not need jo here.

A simple approximation is:

• m'agrada ≈ muh-GRA-thuh in much of central Catalan
• or muh-GRA-da in varieties where the d sound stays clearer

A few helpful points:

• The stress is on gra: a-GRA-da
• The m' is attached closely to the next word
• In many accents, unstressed a sounds more neutral, like a schwa

You do not need to pronounce the apostrophe itself; it just shows that em has been shortened to m'.