La secretària ens farà passar al despatx abans de la reunió.

Ens means us.

In Catalan, object pronouns like em, et, ens, us, el, la, els, les, etc. often come before the conjugated verb.

So:

• La secretària ens farà passar...
• literally: The secretary us will-make enter...
• natural English: The secretary will let/make us go in...

That placement is normal in Catalan. English puts us after the verb, but Catalan usually puts ens before the main conjugated verb.

In this sentence, ens is the people being made to go in.

This is a very common Catalan structure:

• fer + infinitive

It means to make someone do something or to have/let someone do something, depending on context.

Here:

• farà = will make / will have
• passar = go in / enter / pass through

So ens farà passar means something like:

• will make us go in
• will have us come in
• will let us in

In everyday usage, this is a normal way to express that someone causes or allows another person to do something.

More examples:

• Em fa riure = He/She makes me laugh
• Ens faran esperar = They will make us wait
• La professora els farà seure = The teacher will make them sit down

Farà is the future simple of fer (to do / to make).

The verb fer is irregular, and its future stem is far-.

Future forms of fer:

• faré = I will do/make
• faràs = you will do/make
• farà = he/she/it will do/make
• farem = we will do/make
• fareu = you all will do/make
• faran = they will do/make

So in this sentence, farà passar means will make/let ... go in.

Because a + el contracts to al in Catalan.

So:

• a + el = al
• de + el = del

That means:

• al despatx = to the office
• del despatx = from/of the office

This is very similar to other Romance languages that contract a preposition plus article.

Examples:

• Va al mercat = He/She goes to the market
• Torna del metge = He/She comes back from the doctor

Despatx usually means office, study, or private office/room, depending on context.

In this sentence, it most likely means an office room, for example the boss’s office, a meeting room, or a private workspace.

A learner might notice that Catalan also has oficina, but the nuance is often a bit different:

• despatx = often a private office or professional room
• oficina = office in a more general or administrative sense

So al despatx here sounds very natural for into the office.

Because abans normally combines with de when it is followed by a noun or an infinitive.

So:

• abans de la reunió = before the meeting
• abans de sortir = before leaving

This is the standard pattern.

A useful rule:

• abans de + noun
• abans de + infinitive

Examples:

• abans de classe = before class
• abans de dinar = before having lunch

So abans de la reunió is exactly what you would expect.

Yes, it is normal.

Catalan often uses the definite article with nouns in places where English might also use the, and sometimes even where English would leave it out.

Here La secretària simply means the secretary and is the subject of the sentence.

So the structure is:

• La secretària = subject
• ens = object pronoun
• farà passar = verb phrase
• al despatx = destination
• abans de la reunió = time expression

Nothing unusual is happening here; la is just the normal definite article.

Not exactly in the English sense of pass.

Catalan passar is a very flexible verb. Depending on context, it can mean things like:

• to pass
• to happen
• to go through
• to come in / go in
• to spend time

In fer passar algú, it often means to show someone in, to let someone in, or to have someone come in.

So although the basic verb is passar, the whole expression fer passar should be learned as a useful chunk.

For example:

• La recepcionista ens farà passar = The receptionist will show us in
• Fes-lo passar = Let him in / Show him in

In standard Catalan, with a conjugated verb plus an infinitive, object pronouns usually go before the conjugated verb:

• La secretària ens farà passar

That is the most natural placement here.

Learners sometimes expect something more like farà passar-nos, but that is not the normal choice in this kind of sentence. The standard pattern is to place the weak pronoun before the finite verb.

So it is best to remember:

• ens farà passar
• not normally farà passar-nos in this context

The accent marks show where the stress falls.

• secretària → stress on -tà-
• farà → stress on the last syllable, -rà
• reunió → stress on the last syllable, -ó

This matters because stress in Catalan is important and not always predictable from English habits.

A rough guide:

• secretària ≈ seh-kreh-TA-ree-ah
• farà ≈ fah-RA
• reunió ≈ reh-oo-nee-O

The written accents are very useful, so it is worth paying attention to them from the start.

Because Catalan normally does not need an explicit subject pronoun when the verb form already shows the person and number.

Here, the noun La secretària already tells you who the subject is, so there is no reason to add ella.

Catalan commonly leaves out subject pronouns unless they are needed for:

• emphasis
• contrast
• clarity

So:

• La secretària ens farà passar = perfectly normal
• Ella ens farà passar = possible, but more emphatic or contrastive
• La secretària ella ens farà passar = usually unnecessary

Yes, it sounds quite natural in a polite, professional context.

Words like:

• secretària
• despatx
• reunió

all fit a workplace or official setting.

And the expression fer passar is especially common in situations like:

• offices
• clinics
• receptions
• appointments
• meetings

So this sentence sounds like something you might hear in a business or administrative environment, such as a receptionist or secretary organizing who goes into an office before a meeting.