La carnisseria on la meva mare compra carn no és lluny del supermercat.

Carnisseria means butcher’s shop or butcher shop.

It comes from carn = meat, so you can think of it as:

• carn = meat
• carnisser = butcher
• carnisseria = butcher’s shop

The article la is there because carnisseria is a feminine singular noun.

Here on means where.

It introduces a relative clause:

• La carnisseria on la meva mare compra carn
• The butcher’s shop where my mother buys meat

So on is used for places. It connects the butcher’s shop to the information about what happens there.

In Catalan, it is very common to use the definite article before a possessive with family members:

• la meva mare = my mother
• el meu pare = my father
• la teva germana = your sister

This is more natural in Catalan than leaving out the article.

So although English says just my mother, Catalan often says literally the my mother.

There are some exceptions, especially in direct address or certain fixed expressions, but la meva mare is the normal form here.

Because it agrees with mare, which is a feminine noun.

Catalan possessives agree with the noun possessed, not with the owner:

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

So:

• meu = masculine singular
• meva = feminine singular

Because carn is being used in a general, uncountable sense: meat in general.

So:

• compra carn = buys meat

This is similar to English, where you usually say buy meat, not buy the meat, unless you mean some specific meat already known in the context.

If you wanted to refer to particular meat, then an article could appear depending on the meaning.

No és lluny means is not far.

Breakdown:

• no = not
• és = is
• lluny = far

So:

• no és lluny del supermercat = it is not far from the supermarket

Catalan usually places no directly before the verb:

• no és
• no compra
• no viu

Because de + el contracts to del in Catalan.

So:

• de + el = del
• de + els = dels

Here:

• lluny de el supermercat becomes lluny del supermercat

This is very common and works a lot like contractions in other Romance languages.

Because lluny normally goes with de to mean far from.

So:

• lluny de casa = far from home
• lluny del supermercat = far from the supermarket

In this sentence:

• no és lluny del supermercat = is not far from the supermarket

This is just the normal pattern Catalan uses after lluny.

The accent helps distinguish és = is from es, which is a different word.

Here:

• és is the 3rd person singular of ser: is

Examples:

• És gran = It is big
• No és lluny = It is not far

The accent is important in writing.

The sentence is built like this:

• La carnisseria = the butcher’s shop
• on la meva mare compra carn = where my mother buys meat
• no és lluny del supermercat = is not far from the supermarket

So the whole structure is:

[noun] + [relative clause] + [main verb phrase]

More literally:

• The butcher’s shop where my mother buys meat is not far from the supermarket

This kind of structure is very normal in Catalan.

Because Catalan often uses the present tense for habitual actions, just like English.

So:

• la meva mare compra carn = my mother buys meat

This suggests something regular or normal, not necessarily happening right now at this exact moment.

Yes. They are directly related.

• carn = meat
• carnisser = butcher
• carnisseria = butcher’s shop

This is useful vocabulary because Catalan often forms related words in families like this.

Sometimes learners expect a form like a on because English uses to where in some contexts, but here on by itself is the normal and natural choice.

With a place after a noun like carnisseria, Catalan usually just uses:

• la botiga on...
• la casa on...
• el lloc on...

So in this sentence, on is the best option.

The ll in Catalan is traditionally a palatal sound, similar to the lli sound learners sometimes hear in Romance languages. In many modern accents, especially for some speakers, it may sound closer to a y sound.

So lluny may sound approximately like:

• lyuny or in some accents closer to
• yuny

The exact pronunciation varies by dialect, but the key point is that ll is not pronounced like English l + l.

Yes, Catalan can sometimes allow some flexibility, but on la meva mare compra carn is the most straightforward and natural order.

It follows the normal pattern:

• subject = la meva mare
• verb = compra
• object = carn

So it is a very good model sentence for learners.