He de mirar l'hora abans de sortir de casa.

the home

Breakdown of He de mirar l'hora abans de sortir de casa.

• abans de: before
• sortir: to go out
• de: from

Questions & Answers about He de mirar l'hora abans de sortir de casa.

What does he de mean here? It looks like he, but it does not mean he in English.

Here he is the first-person singular form of the verb haver in the structure haver de + infinitive, which expresses obligation or necessity.

So:

• he de mirar = I have to look / I must check
• has de mirar = you have to look
• ha de mirar = he/she has to look

This is a very common Catalan pattern:

• He de marxar. = I have to leave.
• Hem d'estudiar. = We have to study.

So in this sentence, he de means I have to, not the English pronoun he.

Why is there no jo in the sentence?

Catalan often omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

• He de mirar... already tells you the subject is I
• Adding jo is possible, but usually unnecessary:
  • Jo he de mirar l'hora...

Using jo would usually add emphasis or contrast, for example:

• Jo he de mirar l'hora, però tu no.
  I have to check the time, but you don’t.

So the version without is the most natural neutral form.