Abans de la festa, anirem a la pastisseria per comprar un pastís de xocolata.

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Breakdown of Abans de la festa, anirem a la pastisseria per comprar un pastís de xocolata.

• a: to
• comprar: to buy
• abans de: before

Questions & Answers about Abans de la festa, anirem a la pastisseria per comprar un pastís de xocolata.

Why is it abans de la festa? What does abans de mean?

Abans de means before.

In Catalan, abans is normally followed by de when it introduces:

• a noun: abans de la festa = before the party
• an infinitive: abans de marxar = before leaving

So:

• abans de la festa = before the party
• abans de comprar = before buying

That de is required here, so abans la festa would be incorrect.

Why is there la in la festa?

Catalan often uses the definite article more regularly than English does.

Here, la festa means the party:

• la = the
• festa = party

If the sentence is referring to a specific party already known in context, Catalan naturally uses the article:

• Abans de la festa... = Before the party...

This is very normal and does not sound overly specific in Catalan.

What tense is anirem?

Anirem is the future tense of anar = to go.

It means:

• we will go

So:

• anirem a la pastisseria = we will go to the pastry shop / bakery

This is the 1st person plural form, corresponding to nosaltres = we.