Al restaurant, la meva amiga va mirar la carta.

Al restaurant means at the restaurant.

It is a contraction of:

• a = to / at
• el = the

So:

• a + el = al

In this sentence, al restaurant gives the setting: at the restaurant.

You may also see en el restaurant in some contexts, but al restaurant is very natural in Catalan when talking about location or movement depending on the verb and context.

The comma is there because Al restaurant has been moved to the front as a setting or topic phrase.

The basic sentence order could be:

• La meva amiga va mirar la carta al restaurant.

But Catalan often puts time or place expressions first to set the scene:

• Al restaurant, la meva amiga va mirar la carta.

This is similar to English:

• At the restaurant, my friend looked at the menu.

So the comma helps separate that introductory place phrase from the rest of the sentence.

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

So Catalan normally says:

• la meva amiga = my friend
• el meu llibre = my book
• la teva casa = your house

This is different from English, where we usually do not use the with my, your, etc.

So although word-for-word it looks like the my friend, the correct English translation is simply my friend.

They are all feminine singular:

• la = feminine singular article
• meva = feminine singular form of my
• amiga = feminine singular noun meaning female friend

The masculine version would be:

• el meu amic = my male friend

So the sentence uses feminine forms because the friend is female.

Va mirar is the periphrastic past, one of the most common ways to talk about completed past actions in Catalan.

It is formed with:

• a present-tense form of anar (to go)
• • the infinitive

Here:

• va = third person singular form used in this past construction
• mirar = to look at

So:

• va mirar = looked

Even though va by itself can also mean goes, in this structure it does not mean go. It is just part of the past tense.

That is a very common learner question. In normal modern Catalan, this is just a standard past-tense pattern.

So in a sentence like:

• La meva amiga va mirar la carta

you should understand va mirar as a single verbal unit meaning:

• looked

It is not usually understood as literal movement, like went to look.

Catalan has other past forms too, but this anar + infinitive pattern is extremely common in everyday language.

Yes. Mirar usually means to look at, to watch, or sometimes to examine depending on context.

In this sentence:

• mirar la carta = look at the menu

A useful comparison:

• mirar = to look at
• veure = to see

So if someone intentionally directs their eyes toward something, mirar is often the right verb.

Yes, carta can mean letter, but in restaurant contexts it commonly means menu.

So:

• una carta = a letter
• la carta in a restaurant = the menu

This is a vocabulary point you just learn from context. In this sentence, because the setting is Al restaurant, la carta clearly means the menu, not a written letter.

Catalan uses definite articles very naturally with nouns like this.

Here, la carta means:

• the menu

In a restaurant, the menu is a specific, identifiable thing in the situation, so the definite article makes perfect sense.

Catalan generally uses articles more regularly than English in some structures, so getting used to article use is important.

The sentence can be rearranged, although some versions sound more natural in certain contexts.

Common possibilities include:

• Al restaurant, la meva amiga va mirar la carta.
• La meva amiga va mirar la carta al restaurant.

Both are correct.

The version with Al restaurant first emphasizes the setting. The version starting with La meva amiga sounds a bit more neutral if you are simply stating what happened.

Catalan word order is flexible, but not random. Moving something to the front usually gives it more topical or emphatic value.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is roughly:

• ahl reh-stow-RAHNT, luh MAY-vuh uh-MEE-guh vah mee-RAH lah KAR-tuh

A few notes:

• restaurant is pronounced more like Catalan/French-style restaurànt, not exactly like English restaurant
• meva sounds like MAY-vuh
• amiga has the stress on mi
• mirar has the stress on the last syllable: mi-RAR
• carta has the stress on the first syllable: CAR-ta

Exact pronunciation depends somewhat on dialect, but this should help you recognize and say the sentence.