Abans de la reunió, la meva mare ha de llegir el correu.

This is a time expression meaning before the meeting. In Catalan, it is very common to put time expressions at the beginning of the sentence to set the context first.

So:

Abans de la reunió, la meva mare ha de llegir el correu.

has the same basic meaning as a version with the time phrase later in the sentence. Starting with it simply emphasizes when the action must happen.

Abans means before, but when Catalan says before + noun or before + infinitive, it normally uses abans de.

Examples:

• abans de la reunió = before the meeting
• abans de sortir = before leaving

So the de is part of the normal structure here. You usually cannot say just abans la reunió.

Catalan often uses the definite article where English may or may not use it. Here, la reunió means the meeting.

• la = the
• reunió = meeting

So abans de la reunió is literally before the meeting.

This is a very common Catalan pattern. With family members and many everyday nouns, Catalan often uses:

article + possessive + noun

So:

• la meva mare = my mother
• el meu pare = my father
• la teva germana = your sister

In English, we just say my mother, without the, but in Catalan the article is often included.

The possessive agrees with the noun it describes.

Since mare is feminine singular, the possessive must also be feminine singular:

• el meu pare = my father
• la meva mare = my mother

So:

• meu = masculine singular
• meva = feminine singular

Ha de means has to or must in this sentence. It expresses obligation or necessity.

It comes from:

• ha = third person singular of haver
• de
• infinitive verb

So:

• ha de llegir = has to read

This is a very common way to express obligation in Catalan.

In standard Catalan, haver de + infinitive is the usual structure for to have to.

So:

• ha de llegir = she has to read

You may also hear tenir que in some speech, especially under influence from Spanish, but standard Catalan strongly prefers haver de.

So for learners, the safest pattern is:

• he de
• has de
• ha de
• hem de
• heu de
• han de

After ha de, Catalan uses an infinitive, just like English uses a base verb after has to.

Compare:

• English: has to read
• Catalan: ha de llegir

So llegir stays in the infinitive because the conjugated part is already in ha.

Correu can mean mail/post in a general sense, and in modern usage it can also refer to email, depending on context.

If someone wants to be very explicit, they may say:

• correu electrònic = email

But in everyday context, el correu can often be understood as the mail or the email, depending on the situation.

El correu means the mail or the email, referring to something specific or understood from context.

• el correu = the mail / the email
• un correu = a mail / an email

So this sentence implies that the speaker and listener already know which mail or email is meant, or it is being treated as a known task.

No, Catalan word order is fairly flexible, though some orders are more natural than others.

This sentence uses a very natural structure:

Abans de la reunió, la meva mare ha de llegir el correu.

A more neutral order without the fronted time phrase would be:

La meva mare ha de llegir el correu abans de la reunió.

Both are correct. The version with Abans de la reunió first gives extra focus to the timing.

Reunió is pronounced roughly like reh-oo-nee-O, with the stress on the last syllable.

A few helpful points:

• the written accent in -ó shows the stress
• reu is said smoothly, not as separate English-style syllables
• the final ó is the stressed part

So the important thing to remember is: the stress falls at the end.

The pronunciation of ll depends on the variety of Catalan, but for a learner it is enough to know that llegir is roughly pronounced like lyeh-JEER or yeh-JEER, depending on accent.

Important points:

• ll may sound like a ly sound in some varieties
• in some speech it can be closer to y
• the final -gir is stressed on -gir

So don’t worry if you hear some variation. That is normal in Catalan.

Yes. It is grammatically in the present tense, but it expresses a current obligation about a future action.

So the idea is:

• right now, the obligation exists
• the reading must happen before the meeting

English does the same thing:

• My mother has to read the email before the meeting

That is present tense in form, even though the reading may happen later.