A2 · ElementaryAdapted from ElDiario.es

Sílvia Catà: First Woman to Lead Catalonia's Police Force

Sílvia Catà, primera dona cap dels Mossos

Sep 10, 20261 min readGraded Spanish · word-by-word audio

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Sílvia Catà serà la primera dona que liderarà els Mossos d'Esquadra, la policia de Catalunya. Ella treballa al cos des de 1998 i ara és comissària.

Catà va néixer a Arenys de Munt l'any 1973. Abans de ser cap, va treballar en diferents llocs importants. Per exemple, va ser cap de la regió policial de Girona i també va treballar a Barcelona. La consellera d'Interior va dir que Catà és una bona professional.

Ara, Catalunya té una dona com a cap de la policia. Això és una notícia important perquè trenca el 'sostre de vidre' per a les dones. La nova cap vol treballar en equip i tenir una policia propera a la gent.

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Watch out, English speaker

English speakers often use 'will' for the future, but Spanish uses the simple future tense formed by adding endings to the infinitive. For example, 'será' means 'will be', not 'is'. Don't forget the accent marks on endings like -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án. English uses 'since' for a point in time and 'for' for a duration, but Spanish uses 'desde' for both. For example, 'trabaja desde 1998' means 'has been working since 1998'. Also, Spanish often uses the present tense with 'desde', while English uses the present perfect.

Key vocabulary

primeraadj.
first (feminine)
“Ella és la primera dona que treballa aquí.”— She is the first woman who works here.
Pattern la primera dona (the first woman)
Compare inicial (initial)
Masculine: primer
💡 Note that 'primer' drops the final -o before masculine nouns, e.g. 'el primer home'.
donaf.
woman
“La dona treballa molt.”— The woman works a lot.
Pattern dona policia (policewoman)
Compare femella (female, not commonly used)
Plural: dones
💡 Opposite of 'home' (man); note that 'dona' can also be a conjugation of the verb 'give'.
liderarv.
to lead
“Ella lidera el projecte.”— She leads the project.
Pattern liderar un equip (lead a team)
Compare dirigir (direct)
Present: lidero, lideres, lidera...
💡 From English 'leader', with the Catalan verb suffix -ar.
policiaf./m.
police (force or officer)
“La policia ajuda la gent.”— The police help people.
Pattern cos de policia (police force)
Compare agent (police officer)
Plural: policies
💡 Both feminine and masculine noun; when referring to an individual police officer, it changes according to gender.
comissàriaf.
commissioner (female)
“La comissària parla amb els agents.”— The commissioner speaks with the officers.
Pattern comissària de policia (police superintendent)
Compare oficial (official)
Masculine: comissari
💡 Distinguish from 'comissaria' (police station); note the different stress position.
néixerv.
to be born
“Va néixer a Barcelona.”— She was born in Barcelona.
Pattern néixer a (be born in a place)
Compare naixer (variant)
Past: va néixer
💡 Irregular verb; the past tense commonly uses 'va néixer'.
treballarv.
to work
“Ella treballa a Girona.”— She works in Girona.
Pattern treballar en equip (work as a team)
Compare feinejar (to work, colloquial)
Present: treballo, treballes, treballa...
💡 Same root as 'treball' (work, noun).
importantadj.
important
“Aquesta és una decisió important.”— This is an important decision.
Pattern notícia important (important news)
Compare rellevant (relevant)
Plural: importants
💡 Similar to English 'important', but pronounced differently.

Grammar spotlight

Simple future (futur simple)

Used to express actions or states that will happen in the future. In Catalan, regular verbs form the future by adding endings to the infinitive: -é, -às, -à, -em, -eu, -an. For example: ser (to be) → seré, seràs, serà...; liderar (to lead) → lideraré, lideraràs, liderarà...

“Sílvia Catà serà la primera dona que liderarà els Mossos.”— Sílvia Catà will be the first woman to lead the Mossos.

⚠️ Don't forget to use '-à' instead of '-a' in the third person singular.

'des de' to indicate a starting point in time

'des de' means 'since' and is followed by a point or period in time, indicating an action that started in the past and continues to the present. It is often used with the present tense. For example: 'treballa des de 1998' (has been working since 1998).

“Ella treballa al cos des de 1998.”— She has been working in the force since 1998.

⚠️ Don't confuse 'des de' (since/from) with 'des que' (since), which is followed by a clause.

Sentence patterns to steal

Sílvia Catà serà la primera dona que liderarà els Mossos d'Esquadra, la policia de Catalunya.
Sílvia Catà will be the first woman to lead the Mossos d'Esquadra, the police force of Catalonia.
serà la primera dona que + future tense verbReplace 'dona' with 'home', 'persona', etc., and replace the verb with other actions.
Això és una notícia important perquè trenca el 'sostre de vidre' per a les dones.
This is important news because it breaks the 'glass ceiling' for women.
Això és + noun + perquè + reason clauseReplace 'notícia important' with other noun phrases, and the reason clause with other reasons.
La nova cap vol treballar en equip i tenir una policia propera a la gent.
The new chief wants to work as a team and have a police force that is close to the people.
vol + infinitive + i + infinitiveReplace 'treballar en equip' and 'tenir una policia propera' with other parallel actions.

Mossos d'Esquadra: The Police Force of Catalonia

The Mossos d'Esquadra is the police force of the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in the 18th century, it is one of the oldest civil police forces in Spain. Its name means 'squad' and it currently has more than 17,000 members.

Source: Wikipedia

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