Breakdown of A la meva mare li agrada aquest quadre de la ciutat.
la mare
the mother
agradar
to like
a
to
li
her
Questions & Answers about A la meva mare li agrada aquest quadre de la ciutat.
Why is there both a la meva mare and li? Don’t they both mean to my mother?
Yes, they both refer to the same person, and this is completely normal in Catalan.
This is called clitic doubling:
- a la meva mare = to my mother
- li = to her / to my mother
Catalan often uses both:
- the full phrase for clarity or emphasis
- the pronoun because the verb structure expects it
So A la meva mare li agrada... is the natural Catalan way to say that my mother likes...
Why does Catalan use agradar here instead of a verb that works like English to like?
Because agradar works differently from English to like.
Literally, the structure is closer to:
- This painting is pleasing to my mother
So in the sentence:
- a la meva mare / li = the person who experiences the liking
- aquest quadre = the thing that is pleasing
That is why Catalan does not structure it like my mother likes this painting in a word-for-word way.
Why is it agrada and not agraden?