Learn Hardcore Catalan: Després de plegar i planxar la roba, la meva mare vol passar l'aspiradora i llençar les escombraries. - After folding and ironing the clothes, my mother wants to vacuum and throw away the rubbish.

Després de plegar i planxar la roba, la meva mare vol passar l'aspiradora i llençar les escombraries.

After folding and ironing the clothes, my mother wants to vacuum and throw away the rubbish.

Breakdown of Després de plegar i planxar la roba, la meva mare vol passar l'aspiradora i llençar les escombraries.

Questions & Answers about Després de plegar i planxar la roba, la meva mare vol passar l'aspiradora i llençar les escombraries.

Why is it després de plegar i planxar and not something like després plegar?

In Catalan, després de means after and it is normally followed by a noun or an infinitive.

So:

després de dinar = after lunch / after eating lunch
després de treballar = after working
després de plegar i planxar la roba = after folding and ironing the clothes

The de is required here. This is a very common pattern in Catalan.

What does plegar mean here?

Here, plegar means to fold, specifically clothes.

So plegar la roba = to fold the clothes.

Be careful, because plegar can also mean other things in different contexts, such as:

to stop working
to leave
to close/fold up something

But in this sentence, because it is followed by la roba, the meaning is clearly to fold clothes.

Why do both verbs stay in the infinitive in plegar i planxar?

Because they depend on després de.

After després de, Catalan often uses the infinitive when the subject is the same as in the main clause or when the action is being described in a general way.

So:

després de plegar i planxar la roba
literally: after folding and ironing the clothes

This works much like English after folding and ironing the clothes.