Mi padre sueña con viajar a un volcán famoso, pero mi madre prefiere el desierto.

In Spanish, possessive determiners like mi, tu, su, nuestro usually go before the noun:

• mi padre
• mi madre

You normally do not use an article before them in this position, so el mi padre is incorrect in modern standard Spanish.

Padre mío / madre mía does exist, but it is a different structure. It sounds more emphatic, emotional, literary, or old-fashioned in many contexts. For a neutral sentence, mi padre and mi madre are the normal choices.

The verb soñar is commonly followed by con when it means to dream of / about something:

• Sueño con viajar = I dream of travelling
• Sueña con un volcán = He/She dreams about a volcano

So in this sentence, sueña con viajar is the natural pattern.

This is one of those verb + preposition combinations you mostly have to learn as a set:

• soñar con
• pensar en
• depender de
• ir a

Even though English uses of in dream of, Spanish uses con.

Because viajar usually takes a to show the destination:

• viajar a Madrid
• viajar a la playa
• viajar a un volcán famoso

So a here means to.

Spanish often uses a where English uses to with movement toward a place.

Because un volcán famoso means a famous volcano, an unspecified one.

• a un volcán famoso = to a famous volcano
• al volcán famoso = to the famous volcano

You only get al when a + el come together:

• a + el = al

But here the phrase has un, not el, so it stays a un.

In Spanish, most adjectives normally come after the noun:

• un volcán famoso
• un desierto enorme
• una ciudad bonita

That is the neutral, most common order.

If an adjective goes before the noun, it often changes the tone, emphasis, or style. For learners, the safest default is:

• noun + adjective

So volcán famoso is completely normal.

Because the subject is mi madre, which is he/she/it form, so the verb has to be conjugated in the present tense:

• yo prefiero
• tú prefieres
• él/ella prefiere
• nosotros preferimos
• vosotros preferís
• ellos/ellas prefieren

The infinitive is preferir = to prefer, but in a full sentence you usually need a conjugated form.

Also, preferir is a stem-changing verb in the present tense:

• e → ie in most forms

So:

• prefiere, not prefera
• prefiere, not preferir

This is because preferir is an e → ie stem-changing verb in the present tense for most persons.

Pattern:

• yo prefiero
• tú prefieres
• él/ella prefiere
• nosotros preferimos
• vosotros preferís
• ellos/ellas prefieren

Notice that nosotros and vosotros do not change the stem.

This is very common in Spanish. Other verbs with similar changes include:

• querer → quiere
• pensar → piensa
• cerrar → cierra

Because these are two different situations.

With a possessive determiner like mi, Spanish normally does not use an article:

• mi padre
• mi madre

But desierto here is a regular noun phrase, so it can take the definite article:

• el desierto = the desert

Spanish often uses the definite article more than English does, especially with general categories or things seen as a type/place.

So:

• mi madre = my mother
• el desierto = the desert

Both are normal.

Because preferir often takes a direct object with an article when you are talking about a thing or category in a general way:

• Prefiero el café
• Prefiere la montaña
• Prefieren la playa
• Mi madre prefiere el desierto

In English, we might sometimes say she prefers desert landscapes or she prefers the desert, depending on context. In Spanish, el desierto sounds natural here.

Leaving the article out would usually sound incomplete or ungrammatical in this sentence.

Yes. The verb is soñar = to dream, and it is another stem-changing verb.

In the present tense, it changes:

• yo sueño
• tú sueñas
• él/ella sueña
• nosotros soñamos
• vosotros soñáis
• ellos/ellas sueñan

The o in the stem changes to ue in most forms.

So mi padre sueña means my father dreams or my father is dreaming, depending on context.

It is in the present indicative:

• sueña
• prefiere

In this sentence, the present tense expresses a current habit, preference, or general idea:

• Mi padre sueña... = My father dreams...
• Mi madre prefiere... = My mother prefers...

Spanish uses the present tense a lot, just like English does in sentences about general truths, habits, or ongoing personal preferences.

Pero means but and joins two contrasting ideas:

• Mi padre sueña con viajar a un volcán famoso
• pero mi madre prefiere el desierto

So the contrast is:

• father wants one kind of destination
• mother prefers another

It is the normal everyday word for but in Spanish.

In this sentence, yes, repeating mi is the most natural and clearest option:

• Mi padre..., pero mi madre...

You can sometimes omit repeated possessives in certain contexts, but here Spanish strongly prefers repeating it. It sounds balanced and natural.

It also makes the contrast clearer:

• my father
• but my mother

In standard Spain pronunciation, viajar is roughly:

• bee-ah-HAR

A few details:

• v in Spanish sounds much closer to b than to English v
• j is a strong throaty sound, like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach
• stress falls on the last syllable: via-JAR

So viajar is not pronounced like English vee-ah-jar.

Because the written accent shows where the stress goes:

• volcán

The stress is on the last syllable: vol-CÁN.

Without the accent mark, Spanish spelling rules would make you stress it differently. So the accent is needed to show the correct pronunciation.

This is very common in Spanish:

• café
• ciudad
• volcán
• inglés

It works perfectly in Spain Spanish, and it would also be understood and sound natural in most of the Spanish-speaking world.

Nothing in the sentence is strongly regional. The main thing that changes in Spain is pronunciation, not the grammar here.

So a learner studying Spanish from Spain can use this sentence confidently, and speakers from Latin America would also understand it without any problem.