La meva mare té febre i descansa a casa.

In standard Catalan, possessives are very often used together with the definite article, especially with family members.

So la meva mare = my mother

This is different from English, where you normally do not say the my mother.

A few useful patterns:

• la meva mare = my mother
• el meu pare = my father
• el meu germà = my brother
• la meva germana = my sister

In some contexts, especially informal speech or certain regional varieties, the article may be omitted, but for learners, article + possessive + noun is the safest standard pattern here.

Because the possessive has to agree with the noun it describes.

Here, mare is a feminine singular noun, so the possessive must also be feminine singular:

• meu = masculine singular
• meva = feminine singular
• meus = masculine plural
• meves = feminine plural

So:

• la meva mare = my mother
• el meu pare = my father

The possessive agrees with the thing possessed, not with the speaker.

Té is the 3rd person singular form of the verb tenir (to have).

So:

• jo tinc = I have
• tu tens = you have
• ell/ella té = he/she has

In this sentence, té refers to la meva mare, so it means she has.

The accent in té is important because it helps distinguish pronunciation and, in writing, can also distinguish words. Here it marks the stressed vowel.

So:

• té febre = she has a fever

Catalan usually expresses many physical conditions with tenir (to have), just like Spanish and unlike some English expressions.

So Catalan says:

• tenir febre = to have a fever
• tenir gana = to be hungry / to have hunger
• tenir set = to be thirsty / to have thirst
• tenir son = to be sleepy

So la meva mare té febre is the normal Catalan way to say my mother has a fever.

Because in Catalan, when talking about a condition like fever in a general sense, you normally say tenir febre without an article.

So:

• té febre = she has a fever
• not usually té la febre

Using la would sound more specific and is not the normal basic expression for the condition.

This is similar to other fixed expressions in Catalan where no article is used after certain verbs.

Descansa is the 3rd person singular present tense of descansar (to rest).

So:

• jo descanso = I rest / I am resting
• tu descanses = you rest
• ell/ella descansa = he/she rests / is resting

Here it refers to la meva mare, so it means:

• she rests
• or, depending on context, she is resting

Catalan often uses the simple present where English might prefer either rests or is resting.

Because Catalan is a pro-drop language, which means subject pronouns are often omitted when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

In this sentence, the subject la meva mare appears once, and then both verbs refer to that same subject:

• La meva mare té febre i descansa a casa.

Catalan does not need to repeat ella before descansa.

You could say:

• La meva mare té febre i ella descansa a casa

but that would usually add emphasis or contrast. The version without ella is more natural in a neutral sentence.

A casa is a very common idiomatic expression in Catalan meaning at home or to/at someone’s home, depending on context.

So:

• descansa a casa = she is resting at home

You usually do not say a la casa when you mean at home in the general sense.

Compare:

• Som a casa = We are at home
• Es queda a casa = He/She stays at home

But a la casa can be used if you mean a specific house as a physical building:

• Som a la casa del meu avi = We are at my grandfather’s house

So in your sentence, a casa is the normal choice.

It can be understood as either, depending on context.

Catalan simple present often covers both:

• a general/habitual meaning: she rests
• a current situation: she is resting

In a sentence like La meva mare té febre i descansa a casa, English would often naturally translate it as My mother has a fever and is resting at home, because it sounds like a current situation.

Catalan could also use a progressive form, such as està descansant, but the simple present is perfectly normal here.

I means and.

It connects the two parts of the sentence:

• té febre
• descansa a casa

So:

• La meva mare té febre i descansa a casa.
• My mother has a fever and is resting at home.

It is usually pronounced like ee.

One useful spelling note: before words beginning with i or hi, Catalan often changes i to e for easier pronunciation.

For example:

• pares e fills = parents and children

But in your sentence, i stays i because the next word is descansa.

The sentence follows a very common Catalan word order:

Subject + verb + object/complement + conjunction + verb + place

Breaking it down:

• La meva mare = subject
• té = verb
• febre = complement/object-like element
• i = and
• descansa = second verb
• a casa = place expression

So Catalan word order here is quite close to English:

• My mother has a fever and is resting at home.

That makes this sentence a good example of straightforward basic Catalan structure.