La meva mare no vol cafè, però sí que vol te.

My mother does not want coffee, but she does want tea.

Breakdown of La meva mare no vol cafè, però sí que vol te.

• el cafè: the coffee
• voler: to want
• no: not
• la mare: the mother

Questions & Answers about La meva mare no vol cafè, però sí que vol te.

Why is it la meva mare and not just meva mare?

In Catalan, possessives are very often used together with the definite article, especially with family members and many everyday nouns.

So Catalan says:

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

This is different from English, where you normally do not use the before my.

So even though English says my mother, Catalan usually says the my mother structurally: la meva mare.

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What does vol mean, and what verb does it come from?

Vol is the 3rd person singular present form of the verb voler, which means to want.

Here are some present-tense forms:

• jo vull = I want
• tu vols = you want
• ell / ella vol = he / she wants
• nosaltres volem = we want
• vosaltres voleu = you all want
• ells / elles volen = they want

So in La meva mare no vol cafè, vol means wants.

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Why is no placed before the verb?