La meva veïna porta un rellotge perquè sempre vol saber l'hora.

In Catalan, possessives are very often used together with the definite article. So la meva veïna literally looks like the my neighbor, but it simply means my neighbor.

This is very normal in Catalan:

• el meu germà = my brother
• la teva casa = your house
• els seus amics = his/her/their friends

So in this sentence, la meva veïna is the natural way to say my neighbor.

Veïna means female neighbor.

The masculine form is veí = male neighbor
The feminine form is veïna = female neighbor

The diaeresis in ï shows that the vowels are pronounced separately: ve-ï-na, not as a single blended sound.

The two dots over ï tell you that the i must be pronounced separately from the previous vowel.

So veïna is pronounced in three syllables, roughly:

ve-EE-na / bə-EE-nə depending on accent

Without the diaeresis, a learner might try to combine the vowels differently. The mark helps show the correct pronunciation.

Here, porta means wears.

It comes from the verb portar, which often means:

• to carry
• to bring
• to wear

So:

• Porta una bossa = She is carrying a bag
• Porta ulleres = She wears glasses
• Porta un rellotge = She wears a watch

In this sentence, porta clearly means wears, not carries.

It can mean either watch or clock, depending on context.

Here, because the sentence says porta un rellotge (wears a rellotge), it clearly means watch.

If you are wearing it, it is a watch, not a clock.

Un is the masculine singular indefinite article, meaning a or an.

So:

• un rellotge = a watch
• un llibre = a book

Rellotge is a masculine noun, so it takes un.

Perquè with an accent means because.

This is an important distinction in Catalan:

• perquè = because
• per què = why / for what
• per a què = what for in some contexts

So in this sentence:

porta un rellotge perquè sempre vol saber l'hora
= she wears a watch because she always wants to know the time

The accent helps identify it as because.

Catalan often leaves out subject pronouns when they are understood from the verb.

After perquè, the subject is still the same person: la meva veïna.

So:

• La meva veïna porta un rellotge perquè sempre vol saber l'hora.

literally means:

• My neighbor wears a watch because [she] always wants to know the time.

Catalan does not need to repeat ella here.

Catalan has more than one verb related to knowing.

Here, saber is correct because it means to know information or to find out something.

So:

• saber l'hora = to know the time

By contrast, conèixer is used for being familiar with people, places, or things:

• Conec la Maria = I know Maria
• Conec Barcelona = I know Barcelona

You would not normally say conèixer l'hora in this context.

Because hora begins with a vowel sound, la becomes l' before it.

So:

• la casa
• la veïna
• l'hora

This apostrophe is very common in Catalan and works much like contraction before a vowel.

So l'hora simply means the time.

Saber l'hora means to know what time it is.

It is the normal Catalan expression for knowing the time.

Related examples:

• Quina hora és? = What time is it?
• No sé l'hora. = I don’t know the time.
• Vol saber l'hora. = She wants to know the time.

Sempre means always, and its position here is very natural in Catalan.

• sempre vol saber l'hora = she always wants to know the time

Adverbs like sempre often come before the verb they modify.

You may also see variation in word order in other contexts, but this sentence uses the most straightforward and common order.

A very literal breakdown would be:

• La meva veïna = the my neighbor
• porta = wears / carries
• un rellotge = a watch
• perquè = because
• sempre = always
• vol = wants
• saber = to know
• l'hora = the time

So a word-for-word gloss is:

The my neighbor wears a watch because always wants to know the time.

Of course, natural English is:

My neighbor wears a watch because she always wants to know the time.

A learner-friendly approximation is:

lah MEH-vah bay-EE-nah POR-tah oon reh-YOJ-uh per-KEH SEM-pruh vol sah-BEH lo-rah

A few notes:

• veïna has separate vowels: ve-ï-na
• perquè is stressed on the last syllable: per-QUÈ
• rellotge can be tricky; pronunciation varies somewhat by dialect, but it is roughly like reh-YOJ-uh or reh-LYOJ-uh
• l'hora links smoothly: LO-ra

If you want to sound natural, the rhythm matters as much as the individual words.