Vostè ha llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?

Vostè is the formal singular way to say you in Catalan. It is used in polite, respectful, or more distant situations, much like usted in Spanish.

So this sentence is addressing someone formally.

If you wanted the informal version, you would say:

Has llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?

with tu understood.

That is because vostè takes third-person singular verb forms, not second-person forms.

So:

• tu has llegit = informal you have read
• vostè ha llegit = formal you have read

Even though vostè means you, grammatically it behaves like he/she for the verb.

Ha llegit is the present perfect:

• ha = has
• llegit = read

So literally it is has read.

In Catalan, especially in many everyday contexts, this tense is commonly used for past actions, often where English might say either:

• Have you read this article...?
• or sometimes Did you read this article...?

depending on context.

Llegit is the past participle of llegir = to read.

So the structure is:

• haver
  • past participle
• ha llegit = has read

A useful point: with haver, the participle usually does not change for gender or number.

So you get:

• ha llegit
• hem llegit
• han llegit

The participle stays llegit.

Yes, Catalan often omits subject pronouns because the verb form usually makes the subject clear.

So a very natural version would be:

Ha llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?

Including vostè can add:

• politeness
• emphasis
• clarity

So both are possible, but the version without the pronoun is often very natural in Catalan.

No. Catalan does not use do/does/did to form questions.

The sentence keeps normal verb structure, and the question is shown mainly by:

• intonation in speech
• the question mark in writing

So:

• Statement: Vostè ha llegit aquest article al diari d'avui.
• Question: Vostè ha llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?

This is much simpler than English question formation.

Aquest means this.

It changes to match the noun in gender and number.

Since article is masculine singular, you use:

• aquest article = this article

Other forms include:

• aquesta = this (feminine singular)
• aquests = these (masculine plural)
• aquestes = these (feminine plural)

So if the noun were feminine, you would not use aquest.

Literally, al diari d'avui means something like:

in the newspaper of today

More natural English is:

in today's newspaper

Here:

• al = a + el
• diari = newspaper
• d'avui = of today / today's

So the whole phrase tells you where the article appeared.

Because a + el contracts to al in Catalan.

So:

• a + el diari → al diari

This is very common.

It works like:

• de + el → del

These contractions are an important basic feature of Catalan grammar.

D'avui comes from:

• de
  • avui = of today

Catalan often uses an apostrophe when a word ending in a vowel comes before another word beginning with a vowel.

So:

• de avui becomes d'avui

This is just the normal written form.

Yes, that is possible.

Catalan word order is somewhat flexible, especially with pronouns and emphasis. However, the most neutral and natural versions are usually:

• Ha llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?
• Vostè ha llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?

Putting vostè after the verb can sound more marked or emphatic, depending on context.

Vostè is pronounced roughly like bos-TEH, though the exact pronunciation depends on dialect.

The accent mark on è shows that the stress falls on the last syllable and that the vowel is an open e sound.

So the written accent helps both with:

• pronunciation
• distinguishing the word correctly in writing

The exact pronunciation depends on the dialect, but a rough guide is something like:

lye-ZHEET or lye-JEET

A few useful points:

• ll in standard Catalan is traditionally a sound like lli in million, though in some accents it may sound closer to y
• g before i sounds like the soft sound in French jour or the s in measure

So llegit may be unfamiliar at first, but it follows common Catalan sound patterns.

The informal version would be:

Has llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?

If you want to include the pronoun explicitly, you could say:

Tu has llegit aquest article al diari d'avui?

But, as in many Catalan sentences, tu is often omitted unless you want emphasis.