Escolta la professora i no miris el telèfon a classe.

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

Here, escolta and miris are forms used with tu, so the subject is understood as you.
A full version would be:

Tu escolta la professora i no miris el telèfon a classe.

But that sounds more emphatic than normal. Most of the time, Catalan simply omits tu.

Escolta is the affirmative imperative form for tu of the verb escoltar.

So:

• escoltar = to listen
• escolta = listen

This is the form used when telling one person informally to do something.

Examples:

• Escolta! = Listen!
• Escolta la professora. = Listen to the teacher.

In Catalan, negative commands do not use the same form as affirmative tu commands.

For tu:

• affirmative command: mira = look
• negative command: no miris = do not look

This is because negative commands use the present subjunctive form.

So:

• Mira el telèfon. = Look at the phone.
• No miris el telèfon. = Do not look at the phone.

This is a very common pattern in Catalan.

Because escoltar takes a direct object in Catalan.

In English, you say listen to the teacher, with to.
In Catalan, you simply say:

escoltar la professora

There is no extra preposition.

This is worth remembering because it differs from English. A few quick comparisons:

• Escolto la ràdio. = I listen to the radio.
• Escolta la professora. = Listen to the teacher.

They are related, but not the same.

• escoltar = to listen, meaning you pay attention to sound
• sentir = to hear, meaning you perceive sound

So in this sentence, escolta la professora means pay attention to what the teacher is saying, not just hear her.

Compare:

• Sento un soroll. = I hear a noise.
• Escolto la professora. = I am listening to the teacher.

Professora is the feminine form meaning female teacher.
So:

• el professor = the male teacher
• la professora = the female teacher

The article la is there because this is a specific person: the teacher.

So la professora means the female teacher.

Catalan usually uses an article with nouns in cases where English sometimes does not.

So el telèfon is simply the phone. In context, it can easily mean your phone if that is obvious from the situation.

In everyday Catalan, especially in school situations, you might also hear el mòbil, which often sounds even more natural for mobile phone.

So these are both possible ideas:

• No miris el telèfon.
• No miris el mòbil.

A classe is a common expression meaning in class or during class.

It refers more to the activity or situation of being in class, not just the physical room.

So:

• a classe = in class, during class
• a la classe = in the classroom, or in a specific class

In this sentence, a classe is the natural choice because the rule is about behavior during class.

The given word order is natural and clear:

Escolta la professora i no miris el telèfon a classe.

Catalan does allow some flexibility, but not every change sounds equally natural.
For example, you could also say:

A classe, escolta la professora i no miris el telèfon.

That puts extra emphasis on in class.

The original version sounds like a normal instruction.

The sentence uses the informal singular tu forms.

Here are the equivalent versions:

• tu: Escolta la professora i no miris el telèfon a classe.
• vostè: Escolti la professora i no miri el telèfon a classe.
• vosaltres: Escolteu la professora i no mireu el telèfon a classe.
• vostès: Escoltin la professora i no mirin el telèfon a classe.

So the verb forms change depending on who you are addressing.

No. The difference is not about strength; it is grammatical.

• mira = affirmative command
• no miris = negative command

So if you want to say do not look, you need no miris with tu.

If you said no mira, it would sound ungrammatical in standard Catalan.

The accent in telèfon shows both stress and vowel quality.

It tells you that the stress falls on the middle syllable:

te-lè-fon

The è also signals an open e sound.

Accent marks in Catalan are very important because they often tell you how a word is pronounced.