La meva cosina va pintar un dibuix per al meu avi, i ell estava molt feliç.

In Catalan, possessives are usually used together with the definite article.

So:

• la meva cosina = my cousin
• el meu avi = my grandfather

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

A few family-relation words can sometimes appear without the article in certain contexts, but for learners, using the article is the safest and most standard pattern:

• la meva mare
• el meu pare
• la meva germana

So La meva cosina is exactly what you would expect in normal Catalan.

Va pintar means painted.

This is the very common Catalan periphrastic past, formed with:

• va
  • infinitive

So:

• va pintar = painted
• va menjar = ate
• va arribar = arrived

Even though va by itself can mean goes or went in other contexts, here it is just part of the past tense structure.

So in this sentence:

• La meva cosina va pintar un dibuix = My cousin painted a drawing

This is one of the most important past tenses in everyday Catalan.

Dibuix means drawing.

So:

• un dibuix = a drawing

The article un is the masculine singular indefinite article, like English a or an.

Since dibuix is masculine singular, it takes:

• un dibuix

If it were feminine, you would normally see una instead.

Per al meu avi means for my grandfather.

Here, per al is basically:

• per = for
• al = to the / contraction of a + el

In this sentence, you can think of per al meu avi as for my grandfather.

The important thing for a learner is:

• per often means for
• al includes the masculine article el

That is why you still get the article before the possessive idea:

• el meu avi = my grandfather
• after the preposition, it becomes al meu avi

So:

• per al meu avi = for my grandfather

No. You would not say per a el meu avi.

Catalan normally contracts certain combinations of preposition + article. So:

• a + el = al
• de + el = del

With per a + el, standard written Catalan often gives:

• per al

So per al meu avi is the correct form here.

Depending on dialect or style, you may sometimes hear variation involving per a and per, but per al meu avi is a very normal standard form.

Yes, Catalan could often leave it out.

Catalan is a language that frequently omits subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear. So:

• estava molt feliç can already mean he was very happy

But in this sentence, ell is included for clarity or emphasis.

It helps make clear that:

• the grandfather was happy, not
• the cousin was happy.

So:

• i ell estava molt feliç = and he was very happy

The pronoun is not strictly necessary, but it is very natural when the speaker wants to make the reference extra clear.

This is the difference between estar and ser.

• estar feliç = to be happy, in a state or condition
• ser feliç = to be a happy person, in a more general or permanent sense

In this sentence, the idea is that the grandfather felt happy because of what happened. That is a temporary emotional state, so estar is the natural choice:

• ell estava molt feliç = he was very happy

If you said era molt feliç, it would sound more like he was a very happy person in general.

Estava is the imperfect form of estar.

The imperfect is often used for:

• background description
• ongoing states
• emotions or conditions in the past

So here, after the action va pintar (painted), the sentence describes the grandfather’s emotional state:

• ell estava molt feliç = he was very happy

Using va estar is possible in some contexts, but estava is more natural when describing how someone felt as a state in the past.

So the contrast is:

• va pintar = a completed action
• estava molt feliç = a past state

This combination is very common in storytelling.

Molt means very here.

So:

• molt feliç = very happy

This is a very common pattern:

• molt content = very happy / very pleased
• molt gran = very big
• molt interessant = very interesting

Be careful not to confuse:

• molt = very / much with
• més = more

So molt feliç is simply very happy.

No, feliç has the same form for masculine and feminine singular.

So you can say:

• ell està feliç = he is happy
• ella està feliç = she is happy

The plural changes:

• feliços = masculine plural or mixed plural
• feliçes or more commonly standard feliços/felices?

A useful learner-safe point is that in the singular, feliç stays the same.

So in this sentence, feliç does not change just because it refers to ell.

This is a very normal Catalan word order:

• subject: La meva cosina
• verb: va pintar
• object: un dibuix
• beneficiary / purpose phrase: per al meu avi

So literally:

• My cousin
  • painted
    • a drawing
      • for my grandfather

This is close to standard English word order, which makes the sentence fairly straightforward for an English speaker.

I means and.

So the two parts are joined like this:

• La meva cosina va pintar un dibuix per al meu avi
• i ell estava molt feliç

= My cousin painted a drawing for my grandfather, and he was very happy.

As for the comma, punctuation can vary a bit by style. The most important thing for a learner is:

• i = and

The sentence is joining two clauses, and the meaning is completely clear.

In this context, avi means grandfather.

Related family words are:

• avi = grandfather
• àvia = grandmother
• avis = grandparents

So:

• el meu avi = my grandfather

This is a very common basic family word in Catalan.