La mare arriba tard a casa després de treballar.

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

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

This is more natural in Catalan than leaving the noun bare. In many contexts, Catalan also uses the article where English would use a possessive:

• La mare arriba tard can mean Mother arrives late or, depending on context, My mother arrives late.

You usually drop the article when directly addressing the person:

• Mare, vine! = Mom, come!

Arriba is the 3rd person singular present tense of arribar = to arrive.

So:

• jo arribo = I arrive
• tu arribes = you arrive
• ell / ella arriba = he / she arrives

Since la mare is she, the sentence uses arriba.

It can mean either, depending on context.

In Catalan, the simple present often covers both:

• she arrives
• she is arriving

In this sentence, the most natural reading is usually a general or habitual one: The mother arrives home late after working / Mother gets home late after work.

If you wanted to make the ongoing meaning especially clear, Catalan often uses a structure like:

• està arribant = is arriving

Here tard is an adverb, meaning late.

• arriba tard = arrives late

This is different from tarda, which usually means afternoon:

• la tarda = the afternoon

So in this sentence, tard is the correct form because it describes how she arrives.

A casa is a very common fixed expression meaning home or to/at home.

• arribar a casa = to arrive home
• ser a casa = to be at home

Catalan normally does not use an article here. If you said a la casa, that would usually mean to the house, referring to a specific building rather than the idea of home.

So:

• arriba a casa = she gets home
• arriba a la casa = she arrives at the house

Because after després de = after, Catalan can use an infinitive to mean after doing something.

So:

• després de treballar = after working
• literally: after to work, but that is just how Catalan structures it

This is very important for English speakers because English often uses after + -ing, while Catalan uses després de + infinitive.

More examples:

• després de menjar = after eating
• després d’estudiar = after studying

Because Catalan does not normally use the gerund after després de.

English says:

• after working

Catalan says:

• després de treballar

The gerund treballant means working, but it is used in different structures, not here.

So for English speakers, this is a key pattern to remember:

• preposition + infinitive is often the Catalan choice

Yes. Very often, Catalan uses the article with close family members where English would prefer a possessive.

So depending on context:

• La mare arriba tard could mean My mother arrives late
• or more generally The mother arrives late

If the speaker wants to be extra explicit, they can say:

• la meva mare = my mother

But in many natural contexts, just la mare is enough.

Yes. The word order is very natural:

• La mare = subject
• arriba = verb
• tard = adverb
• a casa = destination
• després de treballar = time/circumstantial phrase

So the sentence flows in a standard Catalan way.

You might see small variations for emphasis, but this order is completely normal and idiomatic.

Després means after or afterward, depending on context.

In this sentence, it is part of the expression:

• després de = after

The accent in després shows the stressed vowel and is part of the correct spelling. Catalan uses accent marks regularly, and they are important because they can affect pronunciation and sometimes distinguish words.

Yes, absolutely. That would mean My mother arrives home late after working.

The difference is mainly one of explicitness:

• La mare = natural when the relationship is understood from context
• La meva mare = clearer and more explicit

Both are grammatical.

Yes, definitely. It is a very useful everyday expression.

Some common examples:

• Arribo a casa a les sis. = I get home at six.
• Quan arribes a casa? = When do you get home?
• Va arribar a casa molt tard. = He/She got home very late.

Learning arribar a casa as a chunk will help you sound more natural.

By itself, it can describe either, but it most naturally sounds like a habitual or general statement.

• La mare arriba tard a casa després de treballar. = Mother gets home late after work.

If you wanted to clearly refer to a single completed event in the past, Catalan would normally change the tense:

• La mare va arribar tard a casa després de treballar. = Mother got home late after working.

So the sentence as written is in the present and often suggests a usual pattern.