Ara ja no vull sopa, però la meva filla vol postres.

They are two forms of the same verb: voler = to want.

In the present tense:

• (jo) vull = I want
• (tu) vols = you want
• (ell/ella) vol = he/she wants
• (nosaltres) volem = we want
• (vosaltres) voleu = you all want
• (ells/elles) volen = they want

So in this sentence:

• (jo) vull sopa = I want soup
• la meva filla vol postres = my daughter wants dessert

Catalan usually drops the subject pronoun when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

So:

• vull already means I want
• vol already means he/she wants

Because of that, jo is not necessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Ara ja no vull sopa = Now I no longer want soup
• Jo ara ja no vull sopa = I, now, don’t want soup anymore
  (more emphasis on I)

This is similar to Spanish and unlike English, which usually requires the subject pronoun.

This is a very common Catalan pattern.

• ara = now
• ja = already / now / by this point
• no = not

Together, ara ja no often means now... no longer or not anymore now.

So:

• Ara ja no vull sopa = Now I don’t want soup anymore / I no longer want soup now

The word ja adds the idea of a change of state: before, maybe soup was wanted; now, that is no longer true.

Compare:

• Ara no vull sopa = Now I don’t want soup
• Ara ja no vull sopa = Now I don’t want soup anymore / no longer

The version with ja sounds more like something has changed.

Catalan often leaves out the article with food or other things when speaking in a general, indefinite sense.

So:

• vull sopa = I want soup
• vull la sopa = I want the soup

The second version, la sopa, would usually refer to a specific soup already known in the conversation, for example the soup on the table.

In this sentence, sopa means soup in general, so no article is needed.

The same applies to postres:

• vol postres = she wants dessert
• vol les postres = she wants the dessert(s), meaning a specific dessert course or specific desserts

In Catalan, possessives are very often used with a definite article.

So:

• la meva filla = my daughter
• literally: the my daughter

This is normal Catalan grammar.

Common patterns are:

• el meu pare = my father
• la meva mare = my mother
• els meus amics = my friends
• les meves germanes = my sisters

English does not use an article here, but Catalan usually does.

There are some special contexts where the article may be omitted, but la meva filla is the standard form in a normal sentence.

Però means but, and it is written with a grave accent: ò.

The accent helps show the stressed vowel and distinguishes it from other forms or spellings. In standard Catalan, the conjunction but is spelled però.

So:

• Ara ja no vull sopa, però la meva filla vol postres.
  = Now I don’t want soup anymore, but my daughter wants dessert.

The accent is part of the correct spelling and should always be written.

In Catalan, postres is normally used in the plural to refer to dessert as a course.

So even though English often uses singular dessert, Catalan usually says:

• vol postres = she wants dessert
• de postres = for dessert

This is just how the noun is commonly used.

Examples:

• Què hi ha de postres? = What is there for dessert?
• No vull postres. = I don’t want dessert.

So the plural form is normal and does not necessarily mean several different desserts.

Però is a coordinating conjunction meaning but. It joins two independent clauses.

Here the sentence has two parts:

1. Ara ja no vull sopa
2. però la meva filla vol postres

Catalan word order here is quite straightforward and similar to English:

• [time expression] + [negation] + [verb] + [object]
• però + [subject] + [verb] + [object]

So there is nothing especially unusual after però. It simply introduces the contrasting idea: I don’t want soup anymore, but my daughter wants dessert.

Yes, in other contexts Catalan often uses pronouns like en or la, but not in this exact sentence as given.

For example:

• Vol postres? = Does she want dessert?
• Sí, en vol. = Yes, she wants some.

Here en can replace an indefinite quantity or a noun used in a partitive sense.

But in the original sentence, the full noun postres is stated directly, which is completely natural:

• la meva filla vol postres

A learner should first get comfortable with the full noun phrase before worrying too much about object pronouns.

A rough guide for an English speaker:

• vull sounds roughly like booly without the final -y, or more exactly something like bool with a palatalized ll sound depending on dialect
• però sounds roughly like peh-RO
• postres sounds roughly like POS-tres

A few useful notes:

• ll in Catalan can vary by dialect. In many central varieties it is a palatal sound, somewhat like the lli in some pronunciations of million, though exact comparisons are imperfect.
• The accent in però shows that the stress is on the last syllable: pe-RÒ.
• postres is stressed on the first syllable: PÒS-tres.

Pronunciation varies across Catalan-speaking regions, but those approximations are a good starting point.

Some word-order changes are possible in Catalan, but not all of them sound equally natural.

The most natural version here is:

• Ara ja no vull sopa

This smoothly expresses now I don’t want soup anymore.

Other orders may be grammatical in some contexts, but they can sound marked, awkward, or heavily emphasized. For example:

• No vull sopa ara = I don’t want soup now
• Ara no vull sopa = Now I don’t want soup
• Ara ja no vull sopa = Now I don’t want soup anymore

The sequence ara ja no is a very common chunk, so it is best to learn it as a unit.