La meva germana compra una revista amb una foto de la ciutat.

In Catalan, possessives usually go together with the definite article. So the normal pattern is:

• el meu for masculine singular
• la meva for feminine singular
• els meus
• les meves

That is why la meva germana is the standard way to say my sister.

Una is the feminine singular indefinite article, equivalent to a or an in English.

Both revista and foto are feminine nouns, so they take una:

• una revista
• una foto

If the noun were masculine, you would normally use un instead:

• un llibre
• un diari

Some are easy to spot, and some simply have to be learned.

• germana is feminine because it means sister
• revista is feminine
• foto is feminine, even though it does not end in -a
• ciutat is feminine, even though it ends in a consonant

So noun gender in Catalan is partly predictable, but not always. The article often helps you identify it:

• la germana
• una revista
• una foto
• la ciutat

Compra is the third person singular present tense of comprar, meaning to buy.

So:

• jo compro = I buy
• tu compres = you buy
• ell/ella compra = he/she buys

In this sentence, the subject is la meva germana, so compra matches that subject.

Catalan, like Spanish and other Romance languages, often packs the subject information directly into the verb ending. The verb compra already tells you it is he/she buys or my sister buys, depending on context.

Also, Catalan does not use an extra helping verb like English does in normal affirmative present-tense sentences. It simply says:

• La meva germana compra...

not something structured like My sister does buy...

Amb usually means with.

In this sentence, amb una foto de la ciutat describes the magazine as being with a photo of the city. In natural English, that can mean the magazine contains, has, or features a photo of the city.

So amb is a very common preposition meaning with.

It most naturally describes the magazine.

So the idea is that your sister is buying a magazine that has a photo of the city.

Grammatically, the phrase comes after una revista, so the default reading is that it modifies that noun. If context made it necessary, other interpretations could sometimes be imagined, but this sentence strongly suggests it belongs with revista.

Catalan normally uses the article here because it is referring to a specific noun: the city.

So:

• de la ciutat = of the city

The preposition de often combines with articles, but only in some cases:

• de + el = del
• de + la = de la
• de + els = dels
• de + les = de les

That is why de la ciutat stays exactly like that. There is no contraction with la.

Here de means something like of.

So una foto de la ciutat means a photo of the city.

This use of de is very common in Catalan for relationships like:

• content
• possession
• origin
• description

Examples:

• el centre de la ciutat = the city center
• una tassa de cafè = a cup of coffee
• la porta de casa = the door of the house

No, this is very normal Catalan word order:

• La meva germana = subject
• compra = verb
• una revista = direct object
• amb una foto de la ciutat = prepositional phrase describing the object

So the sentence follows a standard subject + verb + object pattern.

Yes, Catalan often drops subject pronouns, but in this sentence the subject is not a pronoun. It is the full noun phrase la meva germana, so it is included because the speaker wants to say exactly my sister.

If the subject had already been established, Catalan could say simply:

• Compra una revista amb una foto de la ciutat

That would mean She is buying a magazine with a photo of the city or He is buying..., depending on context.

Yes. Foto is a shortened form of fotografia.

Both are used, but foto is very common in everyday speech. It works just like a normal noun:

• una foto
• la foto
• dues fotos

So learners should feel comfortable using foto in ordinary conversation.

A rough pronunciation is:

la ME-va jer-MA-na KOM-pra OO-na re-VIS-ta amb OO-na FO-to de la syoo-TAT

A few helpful notes:

• meva sounds roughly like ME-va
• germana begins with a soft j-like sound in most accents
• revista has stress on vis
• ciutat has stress on the last syllable: -tat
• the final t in ciutat is pronounced

This is only an approximation, but it can help you get started.