A la fleca que és al costat del supermercat també compro sucre i sal.

Here it means at the bakery in the sense of as for the bakery / at the bakery next to the supermarket, I also buy sugar and salt.

Catalan often uses a for location where English would use at or sometimes in. So a la fleca can be understood as at the bakery.

The sentence begins with that phrase because it is being fronted for emphasis or topic: the speaker is talking about what they buy there. A more neutral order would be:

També compro sucre i sal a la fleca que és al costat del supermercat.

Both are correct, but the original puts more focus on the place.

It describes la fleca.

So the structure is:

• la fleca = the bakery
• que és al costat del supermercat = that is next to the supermarket

This is a relative clause, like English the bakery that is next to the supermarket.

So the sentence is not saying that I am next to the supermarket. It is specifically the bakery that is next to it.

Because de + el contracts to del in Catalan.

So:

• de el supermercat → del supermercat

This happens very regularly:

• a + el → al
• de + el → del

In this sentence, al costat de means next to or literally at the side of, so you need de:

• al costat del supermercat = next to the supermarket

També means also or too, and in Catalan it very often appears before the verb.

So:

• també compro = I also buy

Its position can shift a little depending on emphasis, but també compro is very natural.

In this sentence, it suggests that buying sugar and salt at that bakery is an additional thing the speaker does. The implied idea is something like: Besides other things I buy there, I also buy sugar and salt or I also buy sugar and salt there, not just somewhere else.

Because Catalan usually drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb form compro already tells you the subject is I:

• compro = I buy

So jo compro is possible, but it is used only when you want emphasis, contrast, or clarity:

• Jo compro sucre i sal, però ell no. = I buy sugar and salt, but he doesn’t.

In the original sentence, jo is unnecessary.

Because sucre and sal are being used as indefinite mass nouns, similar to English sugar and salt.

Catalan often leaves out the article in this kind of context:

• compro sucre i sal = I buy sugar and salt

If you said el sucre i la sal, it would usually sound more specific, like the sugar and the salt, or it could sound more generic in a different way depending on context.

So in this sentence, no article is the most natural choice.

With locations, both ser and estar can appear in Catalan, but ser is very common when identifying where a place is located, especially in relative clauses like this one.

So:

• la fleca que és al costat del supermercat = the bakery that is next to the supermarket

This sounds natural because it helps identify which bakery you mean.

In some contexts, està can also be heard for location, especially depending on dialect and nuance, but és here is completely normal and standard.

Yes, fleca is a correct Catalan word for bakery.

However, learners should know that in everyday speech many people also say:

• forn
• forn de pa

depending on the region.

Very roughly:

• fleca clearly means the bakery shop
• forn can also mean oven, but in context it often means a bakery

So fleca is perfectly good, but you may hear other words in real life.

Yes. Catalan allows fairly flexible word order, especially when you want to highlight one part of the sentence.

The original sentence:

A la fleca que és al costat del supermercat també compro sucre i sal.

puts the place first for emphasis.

A more neutral version would be:

També compro sucre i sal a la fleca que és al costat del supermercat.

Both mean basically the same thing, but the focus changes a little:

• original: emphasis on at that bakery
• reordered version: emphasis is more balanced or slightly more on the action

Yes, que here means that in the relative-clause sense:

• la fleca que és al costat del supermercat = the bakery that is next to the supermarket

Unlike English, Catalan normally keeps que in this kind of sentence. You would not usually omit it here.

English can say:

• the bakery that is next to the supermarket
• sometimes just the bakery next to the supermarket

Catalan normally uses que if you build the full clause with a verb:

• la fleca que és al costat del supermercat

Yes, literally it does.

Breakdown:

• al = a + el
• costat = side
• de = of

So al costat de literally means at the side of, but in normal English translation it is simply next to or beside.

So:

• al costat del supermercat = next to the supermarket