La meva germana va demanar sopa i peix.

In Catalan, it is very common to use the definite article before a possessive with family members and many other nouns: la meva germana, el meu pare, la nostra professora.

So where English says my sister, Catalan usually says the my sister literally, even though that sounds wrong in English. You should think of la meva germana as the normal Catalan equivalent of my sister.

Because meva has to agree with germana, which is feminine singular.

The possessive forms are:

• el meu = my, masculine singular
• la meva = my, feminine singular
• els meus = my, masculine plural
• les meves = my, feminine plural

Since germana is feminine singular, you need la meva germana.

Great question. In this sentence, va demanar is the periphrastic past, a very common past tense in Catalan.

It is formed with:

• va
  • infinitive

So:

• va demanar = asked for / ordered

Here, va is not really functioning as the ordinary verb to go. It is part of a past-tense structure.

This is one of the first things that surprises English speakers, because it looks like goes to ask, but it actually means asked.

Yes. Demanà is another past form, the simple preterite.

So both can mean asked for / ordered:

• va demanar
• demanà

In modern spoken Catalan, especially in central varieties, va demanar is much more common. That is why learners usually meet this form first.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not needed, because the verb form usually gives enough information.

So instead of saying:

• Ella va demanar sopa i peix

Catalan very naturally says:

• La meva germana va demanar sopa i peix

The subject is already clear from la meva germana, so ella would be unnecessary unless you wanted emphasis or contrast.

Because in this kind of context, Catalan often names food items without an article when talking about what someone ordered, ate, bought, etc.

So:

• va demanar sopa i peix = ordered soup and fish

This sounds natural as a general mention of dishes or food.

If you wanted to be more specific, you could use an article or another determiner:

• una sopa = a soup
• el peix = the fish
• un peix = a fish

But in a restaurant-type context, bare nouns like sopa and peix are very normal.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• to ask for
• to request
• to order

In this sentence, because the objects are food items (sopa i peix), the natural meaning is ordered or asked for.

So va demanar sopa i peix could be understood as:

• She ordered soup and fish
• She asked for soup and fish

Because va demanar expresses a completed action in the past.

• va demanar = she ordered / she asked for
• demanava = she was ordering / she used to order / she would order

So in this sentence, the speaker is referring to one finished action: she ordered soup and fish. That is why va demanar fits better.

Here peix means fish as food.

In Catalan, peix can refer to:

• fish in general
• fish as a dish
• fish as a type of food

So in sopa i peix, it most naturally means fish on the menu, not necessarily one individual fish as an animal.

Yes, this sentence follows a very familiar pattern:

• La meva germana = subject
• va demanar = verb
• sopa i peix = object

So it is basically:

• My sister ordered soup and fish

Catalan often uses this same subject + verb + object order, although it can be more flexible than English in other contexts.

Yes. Grammatically, both are fine:

• sopa i peix
• peix i sopa

The difference is just the order in which the items are mentioned. Sometimes the first item gets slightly more attention, but there is no major grammar change.

Peix is pronounced approximately like paysh in English, with the final x sounding like sh.

A rough guide to the whole sentence is:

• La meva germana va demanar sopa i peix
• roughly: lah MAY-vuh zher-MAH-nuh vah duh-muh-NAH so-puh ee paysh

A few useful notes:

• meva sounds roughly like MAY-vuh
• germana has a soft g sound, like the s in measure
• i means and and is pronounced like ee
• x in peix sounds like sh