Quan veig un ocell per sobre del jardí, somric.

Catalan often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.

• veig = I see
• somric = I smile

So jo is not necessary here. You could say Jo veig... or jo somric... for emphasis, but in a neutral sentence Catalan usually leaves it out.

Quan means when. In Catalan, when you talk about something that happens regularly, generally, or whenever something occurs, the present tense is very natural.

So:

• Quan veig... somric. = When I see..., I smile.

This is like a habitual statement: every time that situation happens, the result happens too.

Veig is the 1st person singular present indicative of veure (to see).

So:

• veure = to see
• veig = I see

It is irregular, so it does not look like the infinitive very closely. That is normal and something you just need to learn as part of the verb’s present-tense pattern.

Somric is the 1st person singular present indicative of somriure (to smile).

So:

• somriure = to smile
• somric = I smile

This verb is also irregular in the present tense. A learner might expect something like somreio, but the correct form is somric.

Because ocell is a masculine singular noun, so it takes the masculine singular indefinite article un.

• un ocell = a bird

If the noun were feminine, you would expect una instead.

Per sobre de means something like over, above, or up above.

So:

• per sobre del jardí = over the garden / above the garden

It suggests the bird is in a position higher than the garden, likely flying over it.

Because de + el contracts to del in Catalan.

So:

• de el jardí → del jardí

This is very common and works like similar contractions in other Romance languages.

Sometimes yes, but there is a nuance.

• sobre el jardí can mean over the garden or above the garden
• per sobre del jardí often feels a bit more explicitly spatial, emphasizing position higher than something

In many contexts they are close, but per sobre de can sound more precise for physical location.

The comma separates the opening when-clause from the main clause:

• Quan veig un ocell per sobre del jardí, = subordinate clause
• somric. = main clause

This is also common in English when a when clause comes first.

In standard Catalan, ocell is roughly pronounced like oo-SELL.

A few useful points:

• the o is like a short oo/u sound
• c before e sounds like s
• ll in Catalan is often like a soft ly sound, though pronunciation varies by dialect

So a rough learner-friendly approximation is oo-SELL or sometimes o-SELY depending on accent.

Usually un ocell here means a bird in a general sense, not a specific previously mentioned bird.

In a sentence like this, it often means:

• whenever I see a bird over the garden, I smile

So it works more like any bird that I happen to see in that situation.

Yes. In sentences like this, quan can often be understood as when or whenever, depending on context.

Because both verbs are in the present tense and the sentence expresses a repeated situation, English whenever is often a good way to feel the meaning:

• Quan veig un ocell..., somric.
• Whenever I see a bird..., I smile.