La meva companya dubta que la reunió comenci a temps, i per això està nerviosa.

In Catalan, it is very common to use the definite article before a possessive:

• la meva companya
• el meu amic
• les nostres coses

So la meva companya is the normal way to say my colleague / my classmate / my companion. English does not use an article here, but Catalan usually does.

Companya is the feminine form of company.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• colleague
• classmate
• companion
• sometimes partner

In this sentence, it most naturally means a female colleague or companion. The feminine ending -a shows the person is female.

Que introduces a subordinate clause, just like that in English:

• dubta que la reunió comenci a temps

This structure is very common in Catalan. After verbs like dubtar when you are expressing uncertainty, Catalan normally uses:

• verb + que + subjunctive

So dubta que... means she doubts that...

Because after dubta que, Catalan uses the subjunctive, not the indicative.

• comença = indicative, stating a fact
• començarà = future indicative
• comenci = present subjunctive

Since the speaker is talking about something uncertain or doubted, comenci is the correct form.

Comenci is the present subjunctive, third person singular, of començar.

So it matches la reunió, which is singular:

• la reunió comenci

It is the form used for that the meeting start / begin in a context of doubt, emotion, possibility, etc.

This is a spelling rule.

The verb is començar. It has ç before a because that keeps the s sound:

• començar

But before e or i, plain c already has that sound, so Catalan writes:

• comenci
• comencis
• comencem

So comenci is the expected spelling.

Here it refers to the future.

Even though it is called present subjunctive, Catalan often uses it for future meaning in subordinate clauses:

• dubta que la reunió comenci a temps

This means she doubts the meeting will start on time.

So the tense name is present subjunctive, but the meaning here is future.

A temps means on time or in time, depending on context.

In this sentence:

• la reunió comenci a temps

it means the meeting starts on time, without delay.

It is a very common expression in Catalan.

Per això means for that reason, that’s why, or therefore.

It refers back to the previous idea:

• she doubts the meeting will start on time,
• for that reason, she is nervous.

So per això links the cause and the result.

Catalan usually uses estar for a temporary state or current condition, and ser for a more permanent characteristic.

So:

• està nerviosa = she is nervous right now
• és nerviosa = she is a nervous person by nature

In this sentence, the meaning is that she is nervous because of the situation, so està is the natural choice.

Because adjectives in Catalan usually agree with the noun they describe.

The subject is la meva companya, which is feminine singular, so the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• masculine singular: nerviós
• feminine singular: nerviosa

That is why the sentence uses nerviosa.

A few useful pronunciation points:

• companya: the ny sound is like Spanish ñ
• reunió: the stress falls on the last syllable because of the accent ó
• això: the accent shows the stressed vowel, and x here sounds like sh

A rough guide:

• companya → kum-PA-nya
• reunió → ray-oo-nee-O
• això → ay-SHO

These are only approximations, but they help you notice the stress and the main sounds.