El ratolí és al costat del teclat, però no recordo la contrasenya.

In modern Catalan, ratolí can mean both:

• a mouse (the animal)
• a computer mouse

Just like in English, the intended meaning comes from context. Because the sentence also mentions the keyboard and the password, learners will naturally understand ratolí here as computer mouse.

This is a very common question for English speakers.

In Catalan, ser is often used for location when something is simply situated somewhere:

• El ratolí és al costat del teclat. = The mouse is next to the keyboard.

Catalan uses estar too, but not in exactly the same way as Spanish, and not as broadly as English speakers often expect. With ordinary statements of where things are, ser is very normal.

So in this sentence, és is the natural choice.

Al costat de means next to, beside, or more literally at the side of.

Breakdown:

• a = at / to
• el costat = the side
• de = of

So:

• al costat del teclat literally = at the side of the keyboard
• natural English = next to the keyboard

Because Catalan contracts these combinations:

• a + el = al
• de + el = del

So:

• al costat = a el costat
• del teclat = de el teclat

These contractions are standard and required in normal Catalan.

Catalan often leaves subject pronouns out because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• recordo = I remember
• the ending -o tells you the subject is I

So:

• no recordo la contrasenya = I don’t remember the password

You could say jo no recordo la contrasenya, but jo is usually only added for emphasis or contrast.

Recordo is the 1st person singular present indicative form of recordar.

So:

• recordar = to remember
• recordo = I remember

Examples:

• recordo = I remember
• recordes = you remember
• recorda = he/she/it remembers

In the sentence, no recordo means I don’t remember.

Usually, yes. In this sentence it works very much like English:

• recordo la contrasenya = I remember the password
• no recordo la contrasenya = I don’t remember the password

Catalan also has reflexive patterns in some contexts, but for a direct object like the password, simple recordar is very natural and common.

Catalan often uses the definite article where English might use a possessive or where English learners might expect no article change.

Here, la contrasenya simply means the password. In context, it can sound very natural even if English might sometimes prefer my password.

If you wanted to be more explicit, Catalan could also say:

• no recordo la meva contrasenya = I don’t remember my password

But la contrasenya is perfectly normal.

Because the noun contrasenya is grammatically feminine, so it takes:

• la contrasenya
• not el contrasenya

This is something you generally just have to learn with the noun. The ending -a is often a clue that a noun is feminine, though not always.

Però means but.

It links two contrasting ideas:

• El ratolí és al costat del teclat
• però no recordo la contrasenya

So the speaker is saying something like:

• the mouse is right there by the keyboard, but that doesn’t help because I still don’t remember the password

Not here.

Catalan distinguishes between two kinds of but:

• però = ordinary contrast
• sinó = correction after a negative statement

This sentence needs però because it simply contrasts two facts.

Examples:

• És petit, però ràpid. = It’s small, but fast.
• No és blau, sinó verd. = It isn’t blue, but rather green.

So però is the correct word in your sentence.

The accents help with pronunciation and sometimes distinguish words.

• ratolí: the accent shows the stress falls on the last syllable: ra-to-LÍ
• és: the accent distinguishes the verb és (is) from unstressed es
• però: the accent marks an open ò sound and helps show pronunciation

Accents in Catalan are important, so it’s best to learn them as part of the word.

A rough English-friendly guide:

• ratolí ≈ ra-to-LEE
• és ≈ ess
• al costat ≈ al koos-TAT
• teclat ≈ te-KLAT
• però ≈ pe-ROH
• recordo ≈ re-KOR-doo
• contrasenya ≈ kon-tra-SEN-ya

A few notes:

• ll and ny can be tricky in Catalan in general, but here the big one is ny in contrasenya, which sounds like ny in Spanish señor or ny in canyon
• stress matters a lot, especially in ratolí and però

Because però introduces a new clause, and Catalan normally separates that with a comma, just as English often does before but.

So:

• El ratolí és al costat del teclat, però no recordo la contrasenya.

This punctuation is standard and natural.

Catalan normally uses articles with nouns in cases where English also often uses them:

• el ratolí = the mouse
• el teclat = the keyboard
• la contrasenya = the password

Leaving out the article here would sound incomplete or unnatural in standard Catalan.

Yes. Al costat de covers several very similar English ideas:

• next to
• beside
• by
• at the side of

So the exact English translation can vary depending on style, but the Catalan phrase stays the same.