Breakdown of Les escombraries fan mala olor perquè encara són a la cuina.
ser
to be
a
in
la cuina
the kitchen
perquè
because
Questions & Answers about Les escombraries fan mala olor perquè encara són a la cuina.
Why is les escombraries plural? In English, trash/garbage often feels singular.
In Catalan, escombraries is normally a plural noun, even when it refers to trash in general.
So Catalan says:
- Les escombraries són...
- Les escombraries fan...
not singular forms.
This is similar to how some English nouns are grammatically plural even when they refer to one general thing, like clothes or scissors.
So in this sentence, the plural verb fan matches les escombraries.
Why does the sentence use fan mala olor? Does it literally mean make bad smell?
Yes, literally fer mala olor is to make a bad smell, but in natural English we would usually translate it as to smell bad or to stink.
This is a very common Catalan structure:
- fer olor = to smell
- fer bona olor = to smell good
- fer mala olor = to smell bad
So:
- Les escombraries fan mala olor = The trash smells bad
This is one of those expressions that should be learned as a chunk.
Why is it mala olor and not mal olor?