A l'abril i al maig, la meva mare prefereix caminar perquè encara no fa tanta calor com al juny.

In this kind of time expression, Catalan often uses a where English uses in.

So:

• a l'abril = in April
• al maig = in May
• al juny = in June

This is normal Catalan usage with months.

Because of the article and the sound at the beginning of the month name.

• abril normally takes the article el, but before a vowel el becomes l' → l'abril
• after the preposition a, you get a l'abril

With maig, there is no vowel at the beginning, so:

• a + el maig → al maig

So:

• a l'abril
• al maig
• al juny

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

So Catalan commonly says:

• la meva mare
• el meu pare
• la teva germana

This is one of the big differences from English, where you normally just say my mother, not the my mother.

Catalan can omit the article in some special cases, but la meva mare is the normal form here.

Because the subject is la meva mare, which is she / my mother, so the verb has to be third person singular in the present tense.

The verb is preferir = to prefer.

Present tense:

• jo prefereixo
• tu prefereixes
• ell/ella prefereix
• nosaltres preferim
• vosaltres preferiu
• ells/elles prefereixen

So la meva mare prefereix = my mother prefers.

Because after a verb like preferir, if the same person does both actions, Catalan uses the infinitive.

So:

• La meva mare prefereix caminar = My mother prefers to walk

This works just like English prefers to walk.

If the subject changed, Catalan would normally use a different structure, often with que plus a subjunctive verb.

For example:

• La meva mare prefereix que jo camini = My mother prefers that I walk

Here perquè means because.

So:

• prefereix caminar perquè... = prefers to walk because...

The accent matters because Catalan distinguishes:

• perquè = because
• per què = why / for what

So in this sentence, the accented form is correct because it introduces a reason.

Encara no means still not or not yet, depending on the context.

Here it means that June-level heat has not arrived yet.

So the idea is:

• encara no fa tanta calor = it still isn’t that hot yet

It adds the sense that the situation may change later.

This is a very common Catalan weather expression.

Catalan uses fer in expressions like:

• fa calor = it’s hot
• fa fred = it’s cold
• fa vent = it’s windy
• fa sol = it’s sunny

You should learn fa calor as a fixed expression rather than translating it word for word.

Because Catalan does not need the dummy subject it that English uses in weather expressions.

English says:

• it is hot
• it rains

Catalan simply says:

• fa calor
• plou

Catalan often leaves subject pronouns out when they are not needed, and in weather expressions there usually is no expressed subject at all.

Because calor is a noun, and before nouns Catalan uses forms of tant that agree in gender and number:

• tant
• tanta
• tants
• tantes

Since calor is normally treated as feminine in standard Catalan, you get:

• tanta calor

By contrast, tan is used before adjectives or adverbs:

• tan alta = so tall / as tall
• tan ràpid = so fast / as fast

So:

• tanta calor = before a noun
• tan calenta = before an adjective

Because Catalan uses tant... com for comparisons of equality with nouns.

So:

• tanta calor com al juny = as much heat as in June
• with the negative: no fa tanta calor com al juny = it isn’t as hot as in June

A useful pattern is:

• tan ... com for adjectives/adverbs
• tant/tanta/tants/tantes ... com for nouns

Examples:

• tan alt com = as tall as
• tanta feina com = as much work as

Because com means as in this comparison, and al juny means in June.

So the structure is:

• tanta calor com al juny = as much heat as in June

And in the full sentence:

• no fa tanta calor com al juny = it’s not as hot as in June

Again, al juny is just a + el juny.

Because that opening phrase is a time expression placed at the beginning of the sentence.

The comma helps separate the introductory time phrase from the main statement:

• A l'abril i al maig, la meva mare prefereix caminar...

This is very natural in writing. You could also put the time expression later:

• La meva mare prefereix caminar a l'abril i al maig...

The meaning stays basically the same, but the original version gives the time frame first.