El meu company de feina arribarà tard a la reunió perquè hi ha molta cua a l'estació.

In Catalan, possessives are very often used together with the definite article, so el meu company is the normal way to say my colleague / my coworker.

So:

• el meu company = my colleague
• la meva amiga = my friend
• els meus pares = my parents

Using the possessive without the article is much less common and usually sounds more literary, formal, or stylistically marked.

Company can mean companion, partner, or colleague, depending on context. Here, company de feina means work colleague, coworker, or colleague from work.

Breakdown:

• company = companion / colleague
• de feina = of work / from work / work-related

So company de feina literally means something like colleague of work, but natural English is coworker or work colleague.

A close alternative is company de treball, which also means coworker.

In Catalan, after nouns like company, a phrase with de + noun often describes a type or category, and in those cases the article is often omitted.

So:

• company de feina = coworker
• roba d'estiu = summer clothes
• taula de menjador = dining table

If you said de la feina, it would more strongly suggest from the job / from work in a more specific sense, not simply the type of colleague.

Arribarà is the future tense of arribar (to arrive).

• arribar = to arrive
• arribarà = he/she/it will arrive

Here it means will arrive late.

Catalan future endings are attached directly to the infinitive:

• arribaré = I will arrive
• arribaràs = you will arrive
• arribarà = he/she will arrive
• arribarem = we will arrive
• arribareu = you all will arrive
• arribaran = they will arrive

Since el meu company de feina is third person singular, arribarà is the correct form.

Because tard here is an adverb, not an adjective.

• tard = late
• d'hora = early

Adverbs do not agree in gender or number, so tard stays the same.

Examples:

• Arribo tard = I arrive late / I’m arriving late
• Ella arribarà tard = She will arrive late

By contrast, tardà / tardana would be adjectives in other contexts, but that is not what is happening here.

A is the usual preposition for to when talking about going or arriving somewhere.

So:

• arribar a la reunió = to arrive at the meeting
• anar a l'estació = to go to the station

Here:

• a = to / at
• la reunió = the meeting

So arribarà tard a la reunió means he will arrive late to the meeting.

Also notice that a + la does not contract in Catalan. It stays a la.

Because la estació becomes l'estació before a vowel sound.

So:

• la reunió
• l'estació

After the preposition a, you get:

• a la reunió
• a l'estació

This is just normal Catalan elision.

Other examples:

• l'escola
• l'oficina
• l'amic

Here perquè means because.

So the structure is:

• main clause: El meu company de feina arribarà tard a la reunió
• reason clause: perquè hi ha molta cua a l'estació

So the full sentence means that he will be late because there is a long queue / a lot of congestion at the station.

A very common learner point is that:

• perquè = because / so that
• per què = why / for what reason

So in this sentence, the one-word form perquè is correct.

Hi ha means there is or there are.

It is one of the most common expressions in Catalan.

Examples:

• Hi ha un problema = There is a problem
• Hi ha dues persones = There are two people
• Hi ha molta cua = There is a long queue / a lot of queuing

Grammatically, it comes from the verb haver, but for learners it is best to remember hi ha as a fixed expression meaning there is / there are.

Because in Catalan, hi ha does not change between singular and plural in this structure.

So both of these are correct:

• Hi ha una persona = There is one person
• Hi ha moltes persones = There are many people

This is different from English, where is and are change. In Catalan, hi ha stays the same.

Here cua means queue, line, or sometimes congestion.

Literally, cua can also mean tail, but in everyday language it is very commonly used for people or vehicles lined up.

So:

• fer cua = to queue / to stand in line
• hi ha molta cua = there is a long line / there is a lot of queueing / there is a lot of congestion

At a station, this could mean a long line of people, heavy crowding, or a backed-up situation depending on context.

Because cua is often treated like a kind of mass idea here: a lot of queueing / a long queue / a lot of congestion.

So Catalan commonly says:

• molta cua = a lot of queue / a long line
• molt trànsit = a lot of traffic
• molta gent = a lot of people

Even though English might sometimes prefer a plural idea, Catalan often uses the singular noun with molt / molta.

Since cua is feminine singular, it becomes molta.

Because it agrees with cua, which is a feminine singular noun.

Agreement pattern:

• molt
  • masculine singular noun
• molta
  • feminine singular noun
• molts
  • masculine plural noun
• moltes
  • feminine plural noun

Examples:

• molt temps = a lot of time
• molta cua = a lot of queueing / a long queue
• molts trens = many trains
• moltes persones = many people

Yes. Reunió means meeting.

Examples:

• tenir una reunió = to have a meeting
• anar a una reunió = to go to a meeting
• arribar tard a la reunió = to arrive late to the meeting

It is a feminine noun:

• la reunió
• una reunió

Yes. Even though the structure is literally closer to arrive late to the meeting, the natural English meaning is often be late for the meeting.

So:

• arribar tard a la reunió = to arrive late to the meeting / to be late for the meeting

Both give the right idea in English.

Yes, it is completely normal.

The structure is:

1. subject: El meu company de feina
2. verb: arribarà
3. adverb: tard
4. destination/context: a la reunió
5. reason clause: perquè hi ha molta cua a l'estació

Catalan often uses this same pattern:

[subject] + [verb] + [extra information] + perquè + [reason]

For example:

• La Maria no vindrà perquè està malalta.
• Arribarem tard perquè hi ha trànsit.

So the sentence sounds very natural.

Yes, in some contexts Catalan can use the present to talk about a near future, especially in speech.

For example:

• El meu company de feina arriba tard a la reunió...

This could work in the right context, especially if the event is imminent or scheduled.

But arribarà tard is very clear and straightforward: he will arrive late. It is a very natural choice.

Not always. Estació can mean station more generally, depending on context:

• estació de tren = train station
• estació d'autobusos = bus station
• estació de metro = metro station

In this sentence, l'estació just means the station, and the exact type is understood from context.

You would change company to companya:

• La meva companya de feina arribarà tard a la reunió perquè hi ha molta cua a l'estació.

Changes:

• El → La
• meu → meva
• company → companya

The rest of the sentence stays the same.

Historically and grammatically, hi is a locative pronoun, and in hi ha it helps form the expression meaning there is / there are.

For most learners, the best approach is simply:

• memorize hi ha as one unit = there is / there are

You do not usually need to translate hi separately every time in this expression.

But yes, it is related to the idea of location or existence, which is why hi ha corresponds to English existential there is/are.

A useful mini-list would be:

• company de feina = coworker
• arribar = to arrive
• tard = late
• reunió = meeting
• perquè = because
• hi ha = there is / there are
• cua = queue, line, congestion
• estació = station

This sentence is actually a very good example because it combines everyday vocabulary with several important Catalan grammar patterns.