El dia de l'examen, he d'arribar aviat a l'escola.

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Breakdown of El dia de l'examen, he d'arribar aviat a l'escola.

• l'escola: the school
• arribar: to arrive
• haver de: to have to

Questions & Answers about El dia de l'examen, he d'arribar aviat a l'escola.

What does El dia de l'examen mean grammatically at the start of the sentence?

It is a time expression. It sets when the action happens: on the day of the exam.

Catalan often puts time phrases at the beginning of a sentence, just like English can do:

• El dia de l'examen, ...
• On the day of the exam, ...

So this first chunk is simply giving the time frame for the rest of the sentence.

Why is de used in el dia de l'examen?

Here de means of and links the two nouns:

• el dia = the day
• de l'examen = of the exam

So literally, it is the day of the exam.

This is a very common Catalan pattern:

• el llibre de la Maria = Maria's book / the book of Maria
• la porta de l'escola = the door of the school

Why do both examen and escola have l' in front of them?

Because Catalan articles often drop the vowel and add an apostrophe before a word beginning with a vowel (or silent h).

So:

• el examen becomes l'examen
• la escola becomes l'escola