Quan vivíem al poble, el meu avi i la meva àvia seien sovint al balcó al vespre.

Because the sentence describes a past situation as a habit or background state, not as a single completed event.

• vivíem = we used to live / we were living
• seien = they used to sit / would often sit

The imperfect is very common in Catalan for:

• repeated past actions
• ongoing past situations
• background description

So this sentence feels like a memory or a scene from the past.

Catalan often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the subject.

• vivíem already means we lived / we used to live
• the ending -íem tells you it is nosaltres = we

You could say Quan nosaltres vivíem al poble..., but that would usually add emphasis or contrast.

Quan means when, but in this kind of sentence it introduces a time clause that gives the setting for the main clause.

So Quan vivíem al poble means something like:

• When we lived in the village/town
• Back when we lived in the village/town

Because the verb is imperfect, it suggests a period of time, not one exact moment.

In Catalan, it is normal to use the definite article before a possessive:

• el meu avi
• la meva àvia
• la meva casa
• els teus llibres

English usually says my grandfather, but Catalan normally says the my grandfather in structure, even though you would never translate it that way literally.

Because each noun has its own article and possessive, and the two nouns have different genders:

• el meu avi = masculine singular
• la meva àvia = feminine singular

Repeating them is the normal, natural way to say it.

If you wanted to refer to them together as one group, you could use:

• els meus avis = my grandparents

But if you name both separately, el meu avi i la meva àvia is the expected structure.

Poble can mean village, small town, or sometimes more generally the place where you’re from, depending on context.

It is broader than a single English word:

• village is often a good translation
• sometimes small town fits better

It contrasts with ciutat = city.

Al is the contraction of a + el.

So:

• a + el poble → al poble
• a + el balcó → al balcó
• a + el vespre → al vespre

This is very common in Catalan.

A similar contraction is:

• a + els → als

Seien is from the verb seure, which means to sit.

In this sentence, seien is the 3rd person plural imperfect:

• jo seia
• tu seies
• ell/ella seia
• nosaltres sèiem
• vosaltres sèieu
• ells/elles seien

The subject is plural because el meu avi i la meva àvia = two people.

It can cover both ideas depending on context.

Here, seien sovint al balcó means they used to sit there regularly. In natural English, that sounds like a habitual action.

Catalan could also use expressions with assegut/asseguda to stress the state of being seated, but seien is perfectly natural here for a repeated past habit.

Sovint means often, and adverbs like this are fairly flexible in Catalan.

Here, seien sovint is a very natural neutral order:

• verb + adverb

You may also hear other placements depending on emphasis, but this version is straightforward and idiomatic.

Yes. In Catalan, seure al balcó is the normal way to say sit on / out on the balcony.

Even though the preposition is a, in English the best translation is often on, at, or in, depending on the place.

So you should not translate the preposition mechanically word for word.

Al vespre means in the evening.

Roughly:

• al matí = in the morning
• a la tarda = in the afternoon
• al vespre = in the evening
• a la nit = at night / in the night

So al vespre refers to that later part of the day before night proper.

Because Quan vivíem al poble is an introductory subordinate clause, and the main clause comes after it:

• Quan vivíem al poble, ...
• main idea: el meu avi i la meva àvia seien sovint al balcó al vespre

The comma helps separate the time-setting clause from the main statement. This is very natural in written Catalan.

The accent marks help show stress and sometimes the quality of the vowel.

In this sentence:

• vivíem shows the stress on the í
• àvia shows the stressed à
• balcó shows stress on the last syllable

These accents are part of normal Catalan spelling, so they are important to learn rather than optional pronunciation hints.

Because Catalan accent marks follow spelling rules: not every stressed word needs a written accent.

• vivíem needs one to show the correct stress pattern
• seien does not need one under the standard accent rules

So the absence of an accent does not mean the word is unstressed; it just means the normal spelling rules already predict the stress well enough.