El got és sobre la taula, al costat de la tassa.

They are the definite articles in Catalan, equivalent to the in English.

• el = masculine singular the
• la = feminine singular the

In this sentence:

• el got = the glass
• la taula = the table
• la tassa = the cup

So the article changes to match the grammatical gender of the noun. English does not do this, but Catalan does.

És with an accent is the 3rd person singular of the verb ser, meaning is.

• és = is
• es without an accent is a different word, usually a pronoun meaning something like oneself / itself in reflexive constructions

So in this sentence, és is the verb: the glass is...

This is a very common question.

In Catalan, ser and estar do not match English to be in exactly the same way. For location, Catalan often uses ser in cases where learners might expect estar.

Here, El got és sobre la taula is a normal way to state where the glass is.

A useful way to think about it:

• ser can simply identify or state location in a neutral way
• estar is also possible in many contexts, especially in everyday speech, but can sound more focused on the object's current position or state

So és is perfectly correct here. In real-life Catalan, usage can vary by dialect and register.

Here sobre means on or on top of.

So:

• sobre la taula = on the table

Be aware that sobre can also mean about / concerning in other contexts, but here it is clearly a location preposition.

Yes. A sobre de la taula is also a common way to say on top of the table.

Compare:

• sobre la taula = on the table
• a sobre de la taula = on top of the table

Both are possible, but they are built differently:

• sobre goes directly before the noun phrase: sobre la taula
• a sobre de needs de before the noun: a sobre de la taula

So you cannot mix them as sobre de la taula in this meaning.

Al costat de is a fixed expression meaning next to, beside, or at the side of.

Literally, it comes from:

• costat = side
• al = a + el = at the
• de = of

So al costat de la tassa literally means something like at the side of the cup, but in natural English it is simply next to the cup.

Because al costat de is the full expression. The de is required.

Think of it as working like this:

• el costat de X = the side of X
• al costat de X = at the side of X / next to X

So:

• al costat de la tassa = next to the cup

You cannot normally drop the de here.

Because al is a contraction of a + el.

• a + el → al
• a + la stays a la

So:

• al costat = a + el costat
• a la taula = a + la taula

This happens because costat is a masculine noun (el costat), while taula is feminine (la taula).

No, the comma is not strictly necessary.

You can write:

• El got és sobre la taula, al costat de la tassa.
• El got és sobre la taula al costat de la tassa.

Both are understandable. The comma just helps separate the two location phrases:

• sobre la taula
• al costat de la tassa

It can make the sentence a little easier to read, but it is not essential.

These two structures mean different things.

• El got és sobre la taula = The glass is on the table
• Hi ha un got sobre la taula = There is a glass on the table

So:

• el got refers to a specific, identifiable glass
• un got introduces a glass as new information
• hi ha means there is / there are

If the speaker and listener already know which glass is being talked about, El got... makes sense. If you are just pointing out that a glass exists there, Hi ha un got... would be more natural.

The structure is:

• El got = subject
• és = verb
• sobre la taula = location phrase
• al costat de la tassa = extra location detail

So it is basically:

Subject + verb + place + more place detail

This is very natural in Catalan. English works similarly here:

• The glass
  • is
    • on the table
      • next to the cup

A rough English-friendly approximation is:

el got es SO-bra la TOW-la, al kus-TAT da la TA-sa

A few notes:

• got has a short o sound, not like English goat
• taula sounds roughly like TOW-la
• costat has the stress on the last syllable: kus-TAT
• tassa has the stress on the first syllable: TA-sa

Exact pronunciation depends on dialect, but this approximation is good enough for a learner to get started.