Talking about cooking | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. ¿Cocinar es tu pasatiempo?

   Is cooking your hobby?

   Cocinar

   cooking

   es

   is

   tu

   your

   pasatiempo

   hobby

   More detail

   Cocinar means “to cook” and is an infinitive. Here, the infinitive functions as the subject, so the whole activity is treated as one idea. Spanish can use an infinitive this way: Cocinar es fácil means “Cooking is easy.” es is the third-person singular present form of ser (“to be”). It agrees with the singular idea Cocinar, not with the person being addressed. The present-tense chain is soy, eres, es; es is used for “is.” tu means “your” and is a possessive determiner. It agrees with the possessed noun in number, not with the owner: tu pasatiempo is singular, while tus pasatiempos is plural. Do not confuse it with tú, the subject pronoun “you”; the accent distinguishes the two forms. pasatiempo means “hobby” or “pastime.” It is a singular noun; its plural is pasatiempos. A useful pattern is Mi pasatiempo es ... (“My hobby is ...”) or ¿Cuál es tu pasatiempo? (“What is your hobby?”). Together, Cocinar supplies the activity being evaluated, es links it to an identification, and tu pasatiempo identifies the hobby belonging to the person addressed. Thus the complete question means “Is cooking your hobby?”

2. Me gusta preparar comida sencilla en casa.

   I like making simple food at home.

   Me gusta

   I like

   preparar

   to make; to prepare

   comida

   food

   sencilla

   simple

   en casa

   at home

   More detail

   Me gusta is the Spanish pattern for expressing that someone likes something. me marks the person who experiences the liking, here “I,” while gusta agrees with the liked activity or thing. Because the liked activity is the infinitive preparar, the singular form gusta is used. Compare the reusable patterns Me gusta leer (“I like reading”) and Me gustan las verduras (“I like vegetables”): gusta goes with one activity or thing, while gustan goes with plural things. preparar means “to prepare” or “to make” here. It is an infinitive, so it names the activity liked in the Me gusta + infinitive pattern. Its present-tense forms include preparo (“I prepare”), preparas (“you prepare”), and prepara (“he, she, or you formal prepares”). Example: Quiero preparar la cena means “I want to prepare dinner.” comida means “food” here. It is a feminine singular noun; its plural is comidas. In this sentence it refers generally to food being prepared, not to a stated number of dishes. Example: La comida está lista means “The food is ready.” sencilla means “simple” or “plain” here. It is the feminine singular form of the adjective sencillo, agreeing with the feminine singular noun comida. The masculine singular form is sencillo, as in un plato sencillo (“a simple dish”); plural forms are sencillos and sencillas when the noun is plural. en casa is a common location expression meaning “at home.” en introduces the location, and casa means “home/house” in this expression. Example: Trabajo en casa means “I work at home.” Together, Me gusta preparar says “I like preparing/making,” comida sencilla specifies “simple food,” and en casa gives the location. The complete utterance therefore means “I like making simple food at home.”

3. ¿Qué te gusta preparar?

   What do you like to make?

   ¿Qué

   what

   te gusta

   do you like

   preparar

   to prepare; to make

   More detail

   ¿Qué asks for the thing or activity: “what?”. The accent marks it as the interrogative form. Compare qué in a question with que in a statement or clause, which is not the question word. te gusta is the Spanish pattern for expressing what someone likes. Here te is the unstressed pronoun meaning “to you,” referring to the person addressed; gusta is the present form of gustar. In this construction, gusta agrees with the thing liked, and the liked item here is the infinitive preparar, treated as one activity. Thus te gusta is literally close to “is pleasing to you,” while natural English says “you like.” preparar is the infinitive “to prepare” or “to make.” Spanish infinitives can name an activity after gustar: Me gusta preparar means “I like to prepare/make.” The same verb can be used with other subjects and tenses, for example preparo = “I prepare/make” and preparé = “I prepared/made.” Together, ¿Qué te gusta preparar? asks which thing or kind of thing the addressed person likes to make. The question keeps the activity preparar after the gustar construction, so its natural meaning is “What do you like to make?”

4. A menudo preparo una sopa sencilla.

   I often make a simple soup.

   A menudo

   often

   preparo

   make; prepare

   sopa

   soup

   sencilla

   simple

   More detail

   A menudo means “often” and describes a repeated action. It is a useful frequency expression; it does not say that the action happens every time. Example: A menudo leo = “I often read.” preparo means “I make” or “I prepare” here. Its base form is preparar, and preparo is the present-tense first-person singular form: “I prepare.” The ending identifies the speaker as the subject. Example: Preparo la cena = “I make dinner.” sopa means “soup.” It is a feminine noun, so the sentence uses the feminine singular article una: una sopa = “a soup.” The article introduces the noun but does not by itself assert a numerical count beyond the singular grammatical form. sencilla means “simple” here and describes sopa. Its base form is sencillo; the feminine singular form sencilla agrees with the feminine singular noun. The masculine counterpart is sencillo, as in un plato sencillo = “a simple dish.” Together, A menudo preparo una sopa sencilla means “I often make a simple soup.” The speaker is the person who prepares it, A menudo places the action as a frequent habit, and una sopa sencilla identifies what is prepared: a soup described as simple.

5. ¿Usas una receta?

   Do you use a recipe?

   ¿Usas

   do you use

   receta

   recipe

   More detail

   ¿Usas is the present-tense form of usar for an omitted singular informal subject: tú usas. Spanish commonly omits this subject pronoun when the verb ending identifies it. The form asks about present or habitual use here; it is not the formal usted form, which is usa. Example: ¿Usas esta aplicación? — “Do you use this app?” receta means “recipe.” It is a feminine singular noun; its plural is recetas. In this sentence, una agrees with it in feminine singular: una receta. The indefinite article marks a singular, nonspecific reference here; it does not by itself state a numerical quantity. Example: La receta es fácil. — “The recipe is easy.” Together, ¿Usas una receta? asks the addressee whether they use a recipe. The question uses the present-tense tú form of usar, followed by the singular noun phrase una receta, producing the fixed meaning “Do you use a recipe?”

6. Sigo una receta fácil.

   I follow an easy one.

   Sigo

   I follow

   receta

   recipe

   fácil

   easy

   More detail

   Sigo is the first-person singular present form of seguir, “to follow.” The subject is understood as yo (“I”), so sigo means “I follow” here. Seguir can also mean “to continue” in other contexts, but that is not the meaning here. Example: Sigo las instrucciones. — “I follow the instructions.” receta means “recipe.” Its plural is recetas; the noun is feminine, as shown by una in this sentence. The pattern una receta means “a recipe”; una marks an indefinite noun phrase, but it does not by itself assert a numerical count beyond introducing one unspecified instance. Example: La receta es sencilla. — “The recipe is simple.” fácil means “easy.” It describes receta and appears after the noun. In the singular, fácil has the same form with masculine and feminine nouns; its plural form is fáciles. Example: Es una tarea fácil. — “It is an easy task.” Together, Sigo + una receta fácil gives “I follow an easy recipe.” The fixed translation uses “an easy one,” with “one” standing for the understood noun “recipe,” but the Spanish sentence explicitly contains receta. The adjective fácil describes that recipe.

7. Me gustaría probarla cuando esté lista.

   I would like to try it when it is ready.

   Me gustaría

   I would like

   probarla

   to try it

   cuando

   when

   esté

   is

   lista

   ready

   More detail

   Me gustaría expresses a polite or tentative desire: “I would like.” Gustaría is the conditional form of gustar, and me marks the person experiencing the desire. Here, the desired thing is expressed by the following infinitive phrase. Compare Me gusta probarlo (“I like trying it”) with Me gustaría probarlo (“I would like to try it”). probarla means “to try it.” It consists of the infinitive probar (“to try”) plus the attached direct-object pronoun la. Because la is feminine singular, it replaces a feminine singular direct object; the fixed translation identifies that object simply as “it,” without naming it. With a masculine singular object, the corresponding form would be probarlo: Quiero probarlo means “I want to try it.” cuando introduces the time clause “when.” It connects an action or situation with the time at which another situation occurs. For example, Te llamaré cuando llegue means “I will call you when I arrive.” esté is the present subjunctive, third-person singular form of estar (“to be”). The subjunctive is used here because the readiness is presented as a condition anticipated for the future, rather than as an established fact. The same form appears in cuando esté listo (“when it is ready”) when the subject is masculine singular; esté itself does not show masculine or feminine gender. lista is the feminine singular form of the adjective listo, meaning “ready” here. It agrees with the feminine singular subject of esté; it does not describe the object pronoun in probarla merely because the forms are adjacent. For a masculine singular subject, use listo: cuando esté listo means “when it is ready.” Together, Me gustaría probarla gives “I would like to try it,” and cuando esté lista adds the time condition “when it is ready.” The complete utterance therefore means: “I would like to try it when it is ready.”

8. Te guardaré un poco de sopa.

   I will save some soup for you.

   Te

   for you

   guardaré

   will save

   un poco de

   some; a little of

   sopa

   soup

   More detail

   Te is an unstressed pronoun used here for the indirect object: it means “to/for you.” In this sentence, the fixed translation identifies that person as the recipient of the saved soup. The corresponding plural form is les; te itself does not indicate whether the listener is male or female. guardaré comes from the infinitive guardar, “to save” or “to keep.” The ending -é marks the simple future, first-person singular: “I will save.” The subject is therefore the speaker, even though Spanish commonly leaves the subject pronoun unstated. Compare guardarás, “you will save,” with guardaremos, “we will save.” un poco de expresses a small, non-exact amount of something: “some” or “a little of.” The indefinite article un does not by itself state an exact numeric count here. This pattern can be reused with mass nouns, for example: un poco de agua — “a little water.” sopa is the noun “soup.” It is feminine, as shown by the form la sopa when a definite article is used; the noun’s gender is not determined merely by the amount phrase before it. Together, Te guardaré means “I will save [it] for you,” un poco de sopa specifies the saved amount and item, and the complete utterance means “I will save some soup for you.”