Mi hija lleva una coleta alta para ir al colegio, pero los domingos prefiere una trenza.

In Spanish, llevar is very commonly used to mean to wear or to have on, especially for clothes, accessories, and hairstyles.

So Mi hija lleva una coleta alta means My daughter wears/has her hair in a high ponytail.

• llevar = to wear, to carry, to have on
• usar = to use

For hairstyles, llevar sounds much more natural:

• Lleva el pelo corto = She wears her hair short.
• Lleva gafas = She wears glasses.

Coleta means ponytail, and alta means high.

So una coleta alta = a high ponytail.

In Spain, coleta is the normal word for ponytail. In some other Spanish-speaking countries, other words may also be used, but coleta is standard and natural in Peninsular Spanish.

In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• una coleta alta = a high ponytail
• una trenza larga = a long braid
• una casa grande = a big house

That is the normal word order. English often puts adjectives before the noun, but Spanish usually puts them after.

After para when you express purpose—meaning in order to—Spanish uses the infinitive if the subject stays the same.

So:

• para ir al colegio = to go to school / in order to go to school

Here, the daughter is the one wearing the ponytail, and she is also the one going to school, so the infinitive ir is used.

Compare:

• Lleva una coleta alta para ir al colegio. = She wears a high ponytail to go to school.
• Lo hace para que su madre la vea. = She does it so that her mother sees her.

In the second example, the subject changes, so Spanish uses para que + subjunctive.

Al is the contraction of a + el.

So:

• a el colegio → al colegio

This contraction is mandatory in standard Spanish.

Examples:

• Voy al parque = I go to the park.
• Entra al colegio = He/She goes into the school.

The only common exception is when el is part of a proper name:

• Voy a El Escorial
  Not al Escorial

In Spain, colegio commonly refers to a school, especially primary school and sometimes general school in everyday language.

So ir al colegio means to go to school.

A few related words:

• colegio = school
• escuela = school, but often used in broader or more specific contexts
• instituto = secondary school / high school in Spain

For a child, ir al colegio sounds very natural in Spain.

Spanish often uses definite article + day of the week to talk about habitual actions.

So:

• los domingos = on Sundays / every Sunday
• los lunes = on Mondays
• los fines de semana = on weekends

This is different from English, which usually uses on.

Compare:

• El domingo = on Sunday / this Sunday
• Los domingos = on Sundays / every Sunday

In your sentence, los domingos shows a repeated habit.

Because preferir is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the e in the stem changes to ie in most forms.

Present tense of preferir:

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

So prefiere is the correct form for mi hija.

Spanish uses the present tense to talk about habits and usual behavior, just like English does.

So this sentence is describing what the daughter normally does:

• She usually wears a high ponytail for school.
• On Sundays, she usually prefers a braid.

This is often called the habitual present.

The comma helps separate two contrasting ideas:

• Mi hija lleva una coleta alta para ir al colegio
• pero los domingos prefiere una trenza

Since pero means but, the comma is very natural here, just as in English:

• She wears a high ponytail for school, but on Sundays she prefers a braid.

Spanish often uses the indefinite article with singular countable nouns when introducing a type of thing.

So:

• una coleta alta = a high ponytail
• una trenza = a braid

It sounds natural because these are specific hairstyle choices. English works similarly here.

You could also say:

• Mi hija lleva el pelo en una coleta alta = My daughter wears her hair in a high ponytail.

That version makes the hairstyle idea even more explicit.

You could, but the meaning changes a little.

• Lleva una coleta alta focuses on how she is wearing her hair
• Tiene una coleta alta can sound more like she has a high ponytail as a description at that moment

For hairstyle choice, llevar is usually the more natural verb.

Compare:

• Hoy lleva una trenza. = Today she’s wearing a braid.
• Tiene una trenza. = She has a braid.

Both can be understood, but lleva is the better fit for a style someone chooses to wear.

Yes, Spanish often omits the subject pronoun or noun if the context makes it clear.

For example:

• Lleva una coleta alta para ir al colegio, pero los domingos prefiere una trenza.

This would still be grammatical if everyone already knows you are talking about your daughter.

However, mi hija is included here to make the subject explicit and clear.

Yes. Trenza means braid or plait.

So:

• una trenza = a braid
• dos trenzas = two braids

In everyday English, braid is often the most direct translation. British English speakers may also think of plait.

It mainly explains the purpose of the hairstyle choice: she wears her hair that way for going to school.

So the idea is:

• She wears a high ponytail in order to go to school / for school

Grammatically, it relates to the whole action lleva una coleta alta, not just to coleta by itself. It tells you why or for what situation she wears that hairstyle.