Word
El meu pare té mal de cap, i jo buscaré el medicament a la farmàcia.
Meaning
My father has a headache, and I will look for the medicine at the pharmacy.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of El meu pare té mal de cap, i jo buscaré el medicament a la farmàcia.
el pare
the father
a
at
i
and
meu
my
Questions & Answers about El meu pare té mal de cap, i jo buscaré el medicament a la farmàcia.
Why does Catalan say el meu pare instead of just meu pare?
In Catalan, possessives like meu / meva / teu / seva are usually used together with the definite article:
- el meu pare = my father
- la meva mare = my mother
This is different from English, where we do not say the my father. In Catalan, the article is normally required.
A few family terms can sometimes appear without the article in certain contexts or dialects, but for learners, el meu pare is the standard pattern to use.
What does té mean, and why does it have an accent?
Té means has. It is the 3rd person singular form of the verb tenir (to have):
- jo tinc = I have
- tu tens = you have
- ell / ella té = he / she has
The accent in té helps distinguish it from te, which can mean you (an unstressed object pronoun) or tea in some contexts. So the accent marks both pronunciation and meaning.
Why does Catalan say té mal de cap instead of something like està malalt?