El meu pare mira cada quadre amb la guia, però la meva filla prefereix aquesta pintura.

My father looks at each painting with the guide, but my daughter prefers this painting.

Breakdown of El meu pare mira cada quadre amb la guia, però la meva filla prefereix aquesta pintura.

• amb: with
• el pare: the father
• però: but
• meu: my

Questions & Answers about El meu pare mira cada quadre amb la guia, però la meva filla prefereix aquesta pintura.

Why does Catalan use el meu pare and la meva filla instead of just my father and my daughter without an article?

In standard Catalan, possessives are very often used together with the definite article:

• el meu pare
• la meva filla
• la nostra casa

This is one of the big differences from English.
So where English says my father, Catalan usually says the my father, literally speaking.

There are some more traditional or literary family forms such as mon pare, ma mare, but el meu pare and la meva filla are the normal, safe standard forms for learners.

Why is it meu pare but meva filla?

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

Here the singular possessive forms are:

• meu = masculine singular
• meva = feminine singular

So:

• pare is masculine → el meu pare
• filla is feminine → la meva filla

This agreement pattern is very common in Catalan:

• el meu llibre
• la meva amiga

What tense and person are mira and prefereix?