Breakdown of La meva veïna diu que l'oli d'aquest restaurant fa una olor massa forta.
un
a
meu
my
de
of
el veí
the neighbor
Questions & Answers about La meva veïna diu que l'oli d'aquest restaurant fa una olor massa forta.
Why does Catalan say La meva veïna instead of just meva veïna?
In Catalan, possessives like meu / meva / teu / seva are very often used with a definite article:
- la meva veïna = my neighbor
- el meu cotxe = my car
- la seva casa = his/her/their house
This is different from English, where you normally do not use the with my.
So La meva veïna is the normal Catalan way to say my neighbor.
What does veïna mean exactly, and why does it end in -a?
Veïna means female neighbor.
Catalan often marks gender in nouns:
- veí = male neighbor
- veïna = female neighbor
The sentence uses veïna because the neighbor is female. If it were a man, it would be:
- El meu veí diu que...
Also, the diaeresis in ï tells you the vowels are pronounced separately: ve-ï-na, not as one blended sound.
Why is it diu and not something like dice or say?