La meva mare està tan cansada que vol dormir aviat.

to want

Breakdown of La meva mare està tan cansada que vol dormir aviat.

• estar: to be
• la mare: the mother
• cansat: tired

Questions & Answers about La meva mare està tan cansada que vol dormir aviat.

Why is it la meva mare and not just meva mare?

In Catalan, possessives are very often used together with the definite article.

So:

• la meva mare = my mother
• literally, it looks like the my mother, but that is normal in Catalan

This is one of the biggest differences from English. English usually says just my mother, but Catalan commonly says la meva mare.

That said, there are some contexts where the article may be omitted, but for a basic sentence like this, la meva mare is the standard form to learn.

What does meva mean, and why does it end in -a?

Meva means my, but Catalan possessives change form to agree with the noun they describe.

Here, mare is:

• feminine
• singular

So the possessive must also be feminine singular:

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

So meu is the masculine singular form, and meva is the feminine singular form.

Why is it està and not és?