La mare pot venir després de la feina.

the mother

Breakdown of La mare pot venir després de la feina.

• la feina: the work
• després de: after
• poder: to be able to
• venir: to come

Questions & Answers about La mare pot venir després de la feina.

Why is there la before mare?

In Catalan, it is very normal to use the definite article with nouns, including family words in many contexts.

So la mare is a natural way to say mother / mom when the person is already clear from context.

English often drops the article in similar cases, but Catalan usually does not.

Does la mare mean the mother or my mother?

Literally, la mare is the mother.

But in real usage, it can often refer to mom / my mother if the context makes that obvious. Catalan does not always need a possessive where English often uses one.

If you want to be extra explicit, you can say la meva mare for my mother.

What does pot mean here?

Pot is the third-person singular present form of poder, which means to be able to / can / may.

So:

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

In this sentence, pot means can or is able to.

Why is venir not conjugated?

Because it comes after the modal verb poder.

In Catalan, after poder, the next verb stays in the infinitive:

• pot venir = can come
• pot parlar = can speak
• pot sortir = can leave

This works very much like English can come, can speak, can leave.

Where is the word she?

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns when they are already clear.

So instead of saying Ella pot venir..., Catalan normally just says La mare pot venir... or even simply Pot venir... if the context is clear enough.

This is called a pro-drop language feature.

You can add ella if you want emphasis or contrast, but it is not required.

What does després de mean, and why is de necessary?

Després means after / later / afterwards, but when it is followed by a noun, Catalan normally uses de:

• després de la feina = after work
• després del dinar = after lunch
• després de classe = after class

So de is part of the normal structure here.

Compare:

• després = later / afterwards
• després de la feina = after work

Why is it la feina and not just feina?

Because Catalan usually uses the article in this kind of expression.

English says after work with no article, but Catalan prefers després de la feina.

That is one of those places where Catalan and English organize everyday expressions differently.

What is the difference between feina and treball?

Both relate to work, but they are not always used in exactly the same way.

Feina is very common for:

• a job
• work as a daily activity
• the tasks you have to do

Treball can also mean work, but it is often broader or more formal, and it can also mean:

• a piece of work
• schoolwork
• labor

In this sentence, feina is the most natural everyday word.

Can the word order change?

Yes. The sentence as given has a very normal order:

La mare + pot venir + després de la feina

But Catalan can move parts around for emphasis, for example:

Després de la feina, la mare pot venir.

That still means the same thing, but it puts more focus on the time expression.

How is this sentence pronounced?

A rough pronunciation for an English speaker is:

luh MA-ruh pot buh-NEER duh-SPREZ duh luh FAY-nuh

A few useful points:

• mare has stress on the first syllable
• venir has stress on the last syllable
• després has stress on the last syllable
• feina sounds roughly like FAY-nuh

Exact pronunciation varies by dialect, but that approximation will help you say it understandably.