La mare vol cafè quan arriba a casa.

In Catalan, nouns usually take an article more often than in English, so la mare simply means the mother / mother.

Also, Catalan often uses the definite article with family members in many contexts:

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

Whether it sounds like the mother or just mum in English depends on context.

Vol is the 3rd person singular present form of voler (to want).

So:

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

In this sentence, la mare vol means the mother wants.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear. This is called a pro-drop language.

So instead of saying:

• quan ella arriba a casa

Catalan very naturally says:

• quan arriba a casa

Because arriba already means he/she arrives.

In this sentence, the understood subject is normally la mare.

Catalan commonly uses the present tense in situations where English also uses the present, even if English translates it as gets home rather than arrives home.

So:

• quan arriba a casa literally = when she arrives home
• natural English = when she gets home

This is just a normal present-tense time clause in Catalan.

Quan means when. It introduces a time clause.

So:

• quan arriba a casa = when she arrives home / when she gets home

It tells us at what moment the mother wants coffee.

A casa is a very common Catalan expression meaning home or to home / at home, depending on the verb.

With arribar, it means:

• arribar a casa = to arrive home / get home

You usually do not say a la casa unless you mean a specific house in a more literal sense, like to the house.

So:

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

Here, cafè is being used as an uncountable noun, like coffee in English.

So:

• vol cafè = wants coffee

If you said:

• vol un cafè

that would usually mean:

• she wants a coffee
• often understood as one coffee / a cup of coffee

So the version without un is more general.

Yes. In natural English, cafè here can correspond to:

• coffee
• some coffee

Catalan often does not need a separate word for some in this kind of sentence.

So vol cafè is perfectly normal and natural.

Normally, yes. The most natural reading is that the mother is also the one who arrives home.

So the sentence is understood as:

• The mother wants coffee when she gets home

If the person arriving home were someone else, Catalan would usually make that clearer, for example:

• La mare vol cafè quan el pare arriba a casa = Mother wants coffee when father gets home
• La mare vol cafè quan ella arriba a casa = Mother wants coffee when she gets home

The version you have most naturally keeps the same subject.

This is the normal word order in Catalan:

• subject + verb + object
• La mare
  • vol
    • cafè

Then the time clause comes after:

• quan arriba a casa

So the whole structure is:

• La mare = subject
• vol = verb
• cafè = object
• quan arriba a casa = time clause

This is a very standard sentence pattern.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

lah MAH-ruh vol kuh-FEH kwan uh-REE-buh ah KAH-zuh

A few helpful notes:

• vol sounds roughly like bol with a softer o
• cafè is stressed on the last syllable: ca-FÈ
• arriba is stressed on ri: a-RRI-ba
• casa sounds like CA-sa, with a voiced s sound between vowels in many accents

Pronunciation varies a bit across Catalan-speaking regions, but this will help you recognize the sentence.