Word
Si les estovalles són netes, la meva mare hi posa els plats i els gots abans de sopar.
Meaning
If the tablecloth is clean, my mother puts the plates and the glasses on it before dinner.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Si les estovalles són netes, la meva mare hi posa els plats i els gots abans de sopar.
ser
to be
la mare
the mother
i
and
meu
my
Questions & Answers about Si les estovalles són netes, la meva mare hi posa els plats i els gots abans de sopar.
Why is estovalles plural here? Does Catalan really say les estovalles?
Yes. Catalan very often uses les estovalles where English might use the tablecloth or the table linens. So even if English uses a singular idea, Catalan commonly uses this plural form. Because of that, the rest of the sentence also agrees in the plural: les, són, netes.
Why is netes feminine plural?
Because adjectives in Catalan agree with the noun they describe.
Here, estovalles is feminine plural, so the adjective must also be feminine plural:
- net = masculine singular
- neta = feminine singular
- nets = masculine plural
- netes = feminine plural
That is why the sentence has les estovalles són netes.
Why does the sentence use són? Could it also be estan?
Són is the plural of ser, and it is grammatical here.
In Catalan, ser and estar do not always match English to be in a simple one-to-one way. With net, both can appear, but the nuance can change:
- són netes = describes them as clean
- estan netes = often emphasizes their current state, as in they have been cleaned and are now clean
So the given sentence is correct. In everyday speech, many speakers might also say estan netes in this kind of context.