Breakdown of Miro el preu del formatge i després decideixo.
i
and
després
then
de
of
mirar
to look at
decidir
to decide
el formatge
the cheese
el preu
the price
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Questions & Answers about Miro el preu del formatge i després decideixo.
Why is there no word for I before miro and decideixo?
Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action. Both miro and decideixo are first-person singular, so jo is understood. You can add jo for emphasis, but in a neutral sentence it is usually omitted.
Why is it miro el preu and not miro al preu or miro a el preu?
Because mirar normally takes a direct object in Catalan. In this sentence, el preu is the thing being looked at, so no preposition is needed. This is different from English, where we usually say look at something. So Catalan says miro el preu, not miro al preu.
What does del mean?
Del is a contraction of de + el. It means of the. So del formatge literally means of the cheese.
Why are there definite articles in el preu and del formatge?
Catalan uses definite articles more often than English. So where English might sometimes say cheese price or just cheese, Catalan often prefers el preu and el formatge. In context, del formatge can mean of the cheese or sometimes more generally of cheese, depending on what is being talked about.
What exactly does després mean here?
Here després means afterwards, later, or then. It is an adverb showing sequence. So i després decideixo means and then I decide.
Can després go in a different place in the sentence?
Yes. Catalan word order is fairly flexible. I després decideixo is a very natural neutral order, but depending on style or emphasis, you may also see després decideixo or decideixo després. The original version is just the most straightforward one for this context.
Why is it decideixo and not something like decido?
Because decidir belongs to a group of Catalan -ir verbs that use -eix- in some present-tense forms. This is a normal pattern, often called the incoative pattern. So you get: decideixo, decideixes, decideix, decidim, decidiu, decideixen.
Is this sentence really in the present tense? It feels like a sequence of actions.
Yes, it is in the present tense. In Catalan, the present can describe a habitual action, a usual procedure, or a step-by-step action presented as something generally true. So this sentence can mean something like a routine: I look at the price and then I decide.
What is the difference between mirar and veure?
Mirar means to look at or to watch intentionally. Veure means to see. In this sentence, the speaker is deliberately checking the price, so mirar is the right verb.
How do you pronounce decideixo and formatge?
Roughly speaking, decideixo has ix pronounced like sh in English, and formatge has tg pronounced like the j sound in judge. The exact pronunciation depends on dialect, but those are the main sounds English speakers usually need to notice first.