El meu pare busca un martell i un tornavís per arreglar la porta.

In standard Catalan, possessives are very often used with the definite article, so el meu pare is the normal pattern for my father.

A useful basic rule is:

• el meu pare = my father
• la meva mare = my mother
• el meu cotxe = my car

So unlike English, Catalan usually wants the article before the possessive.

There are some special cases where the article may be omitted, but for a learner, article + possessive + noun is the safest pattern to learn first.

Busca is the 3rd person singular present indicative of buscar, which means to look for / to search for.

So:

• jo busco = I look for
• tu busques = you look for
• ell/ella busca = he/she looks for

In this sentence, el meu pare busca... means my father is looking for... or my father looks for..., depending on context.

Because Catalan normally uses the article with each singular countable noun in a list when each one is introduced separately.

So:

• un martell i un tornavís = a hammer and a screwdriver

This is very natural Catalan. It shows that he is looking for one hammer and one screwdriver.

If you only used one un, it would sound less standard or could feel less clear for a beginner pattern. Repeating it is the normal, straightforward choice.

They are tool words:

• martell = hammer
• tornavís = screwdriver

Both are masculine nouns, which is why they use un.

Examples:

• un martell
• un tornavís

Here per + infinitive expresses purpose: for fixing, to fix, or in order to fix.

So:

• per arreglar la porta = to fix the door / in order to repair the door

This is a very common Catalan structure.

More examples:

• necessito diners per viatjar = I need money to travel
• va sortir per comprar pa = he/she went out to buy bread

So in your sentence, the father is looking for those tools for the purpose of repairing the door.

Arreglar often means to fix, to repair, or to sort out, depending on context.

In this sentence, because the object is la porta, the meaning is clearly to repair/fix:

• arreglar la porta = to fix the door

But in other contexts, arreglar can also mean things like:

• to arrange
• to put in order
• to tidy up
• to solve

So the exact English translation depends on what is being arreglat.

Because porta is a specific noun here, and Catalan normally uses the definite article in that situation:

• la porta = the door

The sentence is not talking about doors in general. It means a particular door that needs repairing.

This is very normal Catalan usage:

• obrir la finestra = to open the window
• tancar la porta = to close the door

Yes. The sentence follows a very normal pattern:

• El meu pare = subject
• busca = verb
• un martell i un tornavís = direct object
• per arreglar la porta = purpose phrase

So the structure is basically:

Subject + Verb + Object + Purpose

That is very common and natural in Catalan.

In this sentence, i simply means and:

• un martell i un tornavís = a hammer and a screwdriver

Unlike Spanish y, Catalan i does not normally change form before another vowel sound. So learners can safely treat i as a stable word meaning and.

The nouns here are:

• pare = masculine
• martell = masculine
• tornavís = masculine
• porta = feminine

You can often tell from the article:

• el pare
• un martell
• un tornavís
• la porta

As in many Romance languages, gender is a property of the noun, so you learn it together with the word:

• not just porta, but la porta
• not just martell, but un martell

That makes it easier to remember.

The plurals are:

• pare → pares
• martell → martells
• tornavís → tornavisos
• porta → portes

So you could say:

• Els meus pares busquen eines.
• Necessito dos martells.
• Té dos tornavisos.
• Les portes són velles.

The plural of tornavís is worth memorizing because it is not just tornavíss or something similar; the normal plural is tornavisos.

The accent mark shows the stressed syllable.

In tornavís, the stress falls on the last syllable:

• tor-na-vís

Without the accent, the stress pattern would be interpreted differently under normal Catalan spelling rules. So the accent is there to show the correct pronunciation.

This is important because written accents in Catalan often tell you where the stress goes.

A rough guide for an English speaker:

• pare ≈ PAH-ruh
• busca ≈ BOOS-kuh
• martell ≈ mar-TELL
• tornavís ≈ tor-nuh-VEES
• arreglar ≈ uh-rreh-GLAR
• porta ≈ POR-tuh

A few notes:

• The r in Catalan is not the English r.
• Final ll in martell is not pronounced like English ll; pronunciation varies by dialect, but it is not identical to English.
• The accented í in tornavís tells you the stress is at the end.

If you are learning a particular dialect, the exact pronunciation may vary somewhat.

Yes, but to look for is usually the most natural everyday translation in this kind of sentence.

So:

• El meu pare busca un martell...
  most naturally = My father is looking for a hammer...

To search for is possible, but often sounds a bit more formal or deliberate in English.

Yes. Both are possible, depending on how literally you want to translate it.

• per arreglar la porta = to fix the door
• per reparar la porta = for repairing the door
• in order to fix the door is also possible

In English, to fix the door usually sounds the most natural. But grammatically, per + infinitive often corresponds to to..., in order to..., or sometimes for ...-ing.

Yes. Busca is present tense.

Catalan, like many languages, often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• My father looks for...
• My father is looking for...

So the Catalan present can cover both a general present and an action happening now, depending on context.

Pare means father.

For parent, Catalan uses:

• progenitor in more formal language
• more commonly, people talk about pare o mare, or use plural expressions like els pares depending on context

Be careful, because els pares often means parents, while singular pare specifically means father.

Yes. This sentence gives you several very useful Catalan building blocks:

• article + possessive + noun
  el meu pare

• present tense verb
  busca

• indefinite article with tools/objects
  un martell, un tornavís

• per + infinitive for purpose
  per arreglar

• definite article with a specific object
  la porta

So this sentence is a great model for making your own:

• La meva mare busca una clau per obrir la porta.
• El meu germà compra pintura per arreglar la paret.
• El meu avi necessita un martell per penjar un quadre.