Entre el juny i el setembre, la meva família gairebé sempre fa vacances prop del mar.

In Catalan, months are often used with the definite article when you are referring to them as time periods: el juny, el setembre.

So Entre el juny i el setembre is a natural way to say between June and September.

This is one of the places where Catalan uses articles more often than English does.

Catalan normally uses the definite article with possessives:

• la meva família = my family
• el meu cotxe = my car
• els seus amics = his/her/their friends

For an English speaker, this can feel unusual, because English usually chooses either the or my, not both. But in Catalan, article + possessive + noun is the normal pattern.

Because família is grammatically singular.

Even though a family is made up of several people, the noun itself is singular, so the verb agrees with família, not with the individual family members:

• la meva família fa...
  not
• la meva família fan...

This is similar to standard American English, where my family is... is common.

gairebé means almost and sempre means always.

So:

• gairebé sempre = almost always

The order is logical: gairebé modifies sempre, so it comes before it, just like in English.

This is an idiomatic expression.

Fer vacances means to go on holiday, to be on vacation, or to take a vacation.

So although fer often means to do or to make, here you should learn fer vacances as a fixed expression.

Other useful patterns are:

• fer vacances a l’agost = to be on vacation in August
• quan fas vacances? = when do you go on vacation?/when are you on vacation?

Usually yes.

In Catalan, vacances is normally a plural noun, even when referring to one vacation period. So Catalan says:

• fa vacances
• les vacances d’estiu

This is similar to British English holidays, though in American English vacation is often singular.

Because prop is used with de:

• prop de = near / close to

Then de + el contracts to del:

• prop de + el mar → prop del mar

So:

• prop del mar = near the sea

This kind of contraction is very common in Catalan:

• de + el = del
• a + el = al

Because Catalan uses the present tense for habitual actions, just like English often does.

This sentence describes what the family generally does during that period of the year, not what they are doing right now.

So fa here means something like:

• usually goes on vacation
• almost always spends its vacation

The structure is:

• Entre el juny i el setembre = time expression
• la meva família = subject
• gairebé sempre = adverbial expression
• fa vacances = verb + expression
• prop del mar = place expression

So Catalan is being quite straightforward here: time + subject + frequency + verb phrase + place.

Catalan word order is somewhat flexible, but this order is very natural.

It is very natural and helpful here because the sentence begins with a time phrase:

• Entre el juny i el setembre, ...

The comma separates that introductory time expression from the main clause. In informal writing, people do not always punctuate identically, but this comma is perfectly standard and makes the sentence easier to read.

Not in this exact structure.

Here the phrase is entre X i Y, so you say:

• Entre el juny i el setembre

If you want to say in June, that is a different structure, and the choice of preposition depends on the variety of Catalan and the exact phrasing. But for this sentence, entre el juny i el setembre is the correct pattern to focus on.

Strictly speaking, mar means sea.

So prop del mar means near the sea. In context, that often implies being near the coast or the beach area, but the word itself is sea, not specifically beach.

If you wanted beach, that would be platja.