Abans de sortir, vull estendre la roba al balcó.

Because abans normally takes de before an infinitive or a noun phrase.

• abans de sortir = before leaving / before going out
• abans de dinar = before lunch

By itself, abans usually means earlier / before in a more general sense:

• He arribat abans = I arrived earlier

So in this sentence, de is required.

After abans de, Catalan uses the infinitive when the subject is the same as in the main clause.

So:

• Abans de sortir, vull... = Before leaving, I want...

The person who is leaving is the same person who wants to do something.

If the subject were different, Catalan would normally use a full clause, often with abans que:

• Abans que ell surti... = Before he leaves...

So sortir is infinitive here because it matches the subject of vull.

Because voler is followed directly by an infinitive in Catalan.

• vull estendre = I want to hang out / spread
• vols venir? = do you want to come?

English uses want + to + verb, but Catalan uses voler + infinitive with no extra word.

So vull estendre is correct, not vull a estendre or vull de estendre.

Vull is the first-person singular present of voler, which means to want.

A few present-tense forms are:

• vull = I want
• vols = you want
• vol = he/she/it wants
• volem = we want
• voleu = you all want
• volen = they want

It is an irregular verb, so vull does not look very much like the infinitive voler.

Literally, estendre has the idea of spreading out / extending. But in everyday Catalan, estendre la roba is the normal expression for hanging the laundry/clothes out to dry.

So in this context, it does not sound strange or overly literal to a native speaker. It is the standard household phrase.

In Catalan, roba is often a collective singular noun. It can refer to:

• clothes / clothing
• laundry
• washing

So la roba does not mean one single item of clothing here. It refers to the clothes as a group.

The article la is also very natural here because it means the laundry / the clothes in question, not clothes in general.

Al is a contraction of a + el.

• a + el = al

So:

• al balcó = to/on/at the balcony

Catalan often uses a where English might use to, at, or on, depending on context. Here, English says on the balcony, but Catalan says al balcó.

So the structure is completely normal:

• estendre la roba al balcó

Yes, but there is a nuance.

• estendre la roba is the usual idiomatic expression for hanging laundry out to dry
• penjar la roba literally means to hang the clothes, and it can work, but it sounds more general

If you are talking specifically about laundry, estendre la roba is the most natural choice.

Yes. Catalan word order is flexible here.

You can say:

• Abans de sortir, vull estendre la roba al balcó.
• Vull estendre la roba al balcó abans de sortir.

Both are correct.

Putting abans de sortir at the beginning gives it a bit more emphasis as the time setting: before leaving...

Because Abans de sortir is an introductory phrase placed before the main clause.

So the comma helps separate:

• Abans de sortir, = introductory time phrase
• vull estendre la roba al balcó. = main clause

If the time phrase comes at the end, you would normally not use a comma:

• Vull estendre la roba al balcó abans de sortir.

Sometimes yes, but the nuance changes slightly.

• sortir = to go out / to leave
• marxar = to leave / go away / depart

In this sentence, sortir sounds very natural if you mean before going out or before leaving the house.

Marxar would sound more like before departing. It can be correct in some contexts, but sortir is the more everyday choice here.