Cooking soup together | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Esta receta parece bastante sencilla para la cena.

   This recipe looks simple enough for dinner.

   Esta

   This

   receta

   recipe

   parece

   seems; looks

   bastante

   quite; fairly

   sencilla

   simple

   cena

   dinner

   More detail

   Esta points to a singular feminine noun: here it agrees with receta. Spanish demonstratives change for gender and number, for example este libro, esta receta, estos libros, estas recetas. The form itself means “this”; the sentence identifies the recipe as the referent. receta is a feminine noun meaning a recipe. Its plural is recetas. In this sentence, the noun is the subject of parece, so the recipe is what appears simple. parece is the present-tense, third-person singular form of parecer (“to seem” or “to look”). A useful pattern is algo parece + adjective: La tarea parece fácil means “The task looks easy.” With a person or thing as the subject, parecer presents an impression rather than a direct assertion of identity or quality. bastante modifies sencilla here and strengthens it moderately: “fairly” or “quite.” It can also mean “enough” in other structures, but that is not its function by itself here. Example: La sopa está bastante caliente — “The soup is fairly hot.” sencilla is the feminine singular form of the adjective sencillo, agreeing with feminine singular receta. The masculine singular form is sencillo, and the plural forms are sencillos and sencillas. Here it describes the recipe as not complicated. Example: El ejercicio es sencillo — “The exercise is simple.” cena is a feminine noun meaning the evening meal, or dinner. Its plural is cenas. In para la cena, the preposition para marks the intended occasion: “for dinner.” The article la agrees with feminine singular cena; it does not itself assert a numerical quantity. Together, Esta receta is the subject, parece says that the judgment is an appearance, and bastante sencilla describes that appearance. Para la cena specifies the occasion for which the recipe is being considered. The complete meaning is: “This recipe looks simple enough for dinner.”

2. Yo puedo picar las verduras mientras tú hierves el agua.

   I can chop the vegetables while you boil water.

   Yo puedo

   I can

   picar

   to chop

   verduras

   vegetables

   mientras

   while

   tú hierves

   you boil

   agua

   water

   More detail

   Yo puedo combines the explicit subject yo (“I”) with puedo, the first-person singular present form of poder (“can; be able to”). With an infinitive, poder + infinitive expresses ability or possibility: Puedo descansar means “I can rest.” The subject pronoun is often omitted in Spanish when the verb ending already identifies it, but yo makes the speaker explicit here. picar is the infinitive “to chop” in this sentence. After puedo, Spanish uses the infinitive rather than a conjugated verb: puedo picar means “I can chop.” The same pattern works with other subjects, for example Ella puede picar las verduras — “She can chop the vegetables.” verduras is the plural noun “vegetables.” Its singular is verdura; the plural ending -s marks more than one. In the full noun phrase las verduras, the feminine plural article las agrees with this noun. The sentence refers to chopping the vegetables, without specifying individual vegetables. mientras introduces an action occurring at the same time as another action. The reusable pattern is mientras + clause: Leo mientras ella cocina means “I read while she cooks.” It links the chopping and boiling actions without making either action replace the other. tú hierves means “you boil.” hierves is the second-person singular present indicative form of hervir, “to boil,” used here for the addressee tú. The stem changes from hervir to hierv- in this present-tense form; compare yo hiervo (“I boil”) and ellos hierven (“they boil”). The accent in tú distinguishes the pronoun “you” from tu, the possessive “your.” agua is the noun “water.” Its grammatical gender is feminine, but the singular definite article is normally el agua, not la agua, because the noun begins with a stressed a sound; this does not change the noun’s feminine gender. In the sentence, el agua is the direct object of hierves. The plural is las aguas. Together, Yo puedo picar las verduras says “I can chop the vegetables.” mientras tú hierves el agua adds the simultaneous action “while you boil the water.” The complete utterance therefore means: “I can chop the vegetables while you boil water.”

3. ¿Cuánto tiempo debe cocinarse la sopa?

   How long should the soup cook?

   ¿Cuánto tiempo

   how long

   debe

   should

   cocinarse

   cook

   sopa

   soup

   More detail

   ¿Cuánto tiempo asks about the duration of an action: “how long?” Here, cuánto agrees with the masculine singular noun tiempo. Compare ¿Cuánta agua...? (“How much water...?”), where cuánta agrees with feminine singular agua. debe is the present-tense third-person singular form of deber. In this sentence, deber + infinitive expresses what should happen: “should.” The singular form fits la sopa in the construction debe cocinarse. Deber can also express a stronger obligation in other contexts, but the fixed translation supports “should” here. cocinarse consists of the infinitive cocinar (“to cook”) plus se. In this sentence, se presents the soup as the thing undergoing the cooking, without naming the person who cooks it. The same idea can be arranged as La sopa debe cocinarse. This is different from cocinar la sopa, “to cook the soup,” which names the soup as the direct object of an unspecified or stated cook. Example: El arroz debe cocinarse lentamente. — “The rice should cook slowly.” sopa is a feminine singular noun meaning “soup.” The article la marks this noun as feminine singular: la sopa. A useful plural form is las sopas, “the soups.” Together, ¿Cuánto tiempo asks for a duration, debe adds the idea of what should happen, and cocinarse la sopa means that the soup should undergo cooking. The complete utterance is: “How long should the soup cook?”

4. Déjala cocinar hasta que las verduras estén blandas.

   Let it cook until the vegetables are soft.

   Déjala

   let it cook

   cocinar

   cook

   hasta que

   until

   verduras

   vegetables

   blandas

   soft

   More detail

   Déjala is the affirmative command form of dejar for tú, with la attached as a feminine singular direct-object clitic. Here it means “let it cook,” referring to the understood feminine singular item identified by the fixed meaning and context. The accent in Déjala preserves the stress when the clitic is attached. Dejar + infinitive is a reusable pattern for allowing or instructing an action: Déjalo descansar means “Let it rest.” cocinar is the infinitive “to cook.” After dejar, it names the action that is being allowed or instructed, rather than carrying the command marking itself. The command marking is on deja. Hasta que introduces the endpoint “until.” In this sentence, the endpoint is presented as not yet completed, so Spanish uses the subjunctive estén in the following clause. The form estén comes from estar and is third-person plural subjunctive, agreeing with las verduras. Verduras is the plural noun “vegetables.” Its singular form is verdura; the plural ending marks more than one vegetable. Las is the feminine plural article associated with this noun. Blandas is the feminine plural form of the adjective blando, “soft.” It agrees with verduras in gender and number. Compare la verdura está blanda (“the vegetable is soft”) with las verduras están blandas (“the vegetables are soft”). Together, Déjala cocinar gives the instruction to let the understood item cook, and hasta que las verduras estén blandas sets the stopping point: continue cooking until the vegetables are soft. The complete meaning is: “Let it cook until the vegetables are soft.”

5. ¿Deberíamos probarla antes de añadir más sal?

   Should we taste it before we add more salt?

   Deberíamos

   should we

   probarla

   taste it

   antes de

   before

   añadir

   add

   más

   more

   sal

   salt

   More detail

   Deberíamos comes from deber and is the first-person plural conditional form: “we should” or “we ought to.” The ending -íamos identifies “we” in this form. The conditional presents tasting as a suggestion or possible action, not as a firm statement that it will happen. Example: Deberíamos esperar. — “We should wait.” probarla combines the infinitive probar (“to taste” here) with the attached direct-object clitic la. In this sentence, la means the intended feminine singular “it” from the fixed translation; the exact noun it represents is not stated here. The clitic agrees in gender and number with the noun it replaces, while probar remains an infinitive after deberíamos. Example: Quiero probarla. — “I want to taste it.” antes de introduces an action that happens earlier than another action. When it is followed by an infinitive, as here, the same understood subject can perform both actions: “before adding.” Example: Lávate las manos antes de cocinar. — “Wash your hands before cooking.” añadir is the infinitive “to add.” It follows antes de, so the phrase means “before we add,” with the subject understood from the question. Example: Vamos a añadir agua. — “We are going to add water.” más means “more” and indicates an increased amount of something already being considered. It modifies sal here; it does not mean “instead of” salt or exclude the salt already present. Example: Necesito más tiempo. — “I need more time.” sal is the noun “salt.” In this sentence it is the substance to be added, and the noun itself does not express the quantity; más supplies the meaning “more.” Example: La sal está en la mesa. — “The salt is on the table.” Together, deberíamos probarla means “we should taste it,” and antes de añadir más sal places that tasting earlier than adding additional salt. The whole question asks whether tasting the intended item should happen before more salt is added: “Should we taste it before we add more salt?”

6. Pruébala primero.

   Taste it first.

   Pruébala

   Taste it

   primero

   first

   More detail

   Pruébala is the affirmative command form of probar for tú: prueba means “taste/try,” and la is the feminine singular direct-object clitic, meaning “it” here. The clitic is attached to the command, so prueba becomes pruébala; the written accent keeps the original stress. In another context, probar can also mean “to try” or “to test,” but here the fixed translation identifies the tasting sense. Primero means “first” and indicates that the tasting should happen before the later action. It is an adverb here, so it does not change for gender or number. Together, Pruébala primero means “Taste it first.” The command addresses one person informally with tú; it tells that person to taste the feminine singular item referred to by la before proceeding.

7. Luego podemos sazonarla con cuidado.

   Then we can season it carefully.

   Luego

   then

   podemos

   we can

   sazonarla

   season it

   con cuidado

   carefully

   More detail

   Luego is a time adverb meaning “then” here: it places the seasoning after an earlier step. For example, Luego mezclamos todo. means “Then we mix everything.” podemos comes from poder (“to be able to; can”). It is the present-tense form for nosotros/nosotras, so the subject is “we”: podemos = “we can.” The following infinitive states what we can do. For example, Podemos esperar. means “We can wait.” sazonarla combines the infinitive sazonar (“to season”) with the attached direct-object pronoun la (“it”). Sazonar is the base form; sazonamos means “we season,” while sazonarla means “to season it.” Here la is feminine singular and refers to the item being prepared; the supplied context supports the soup as that item. The clitic agrees with that feminine singular direct object: sazonarlo would refer to a masculine singular object, while sazonarlas would refer to feminine plural objects. For example, Voy a sazonar la sopa and Voy a sazonarla both mean “I am going to season the soup.” con cuidado is a manner expression literally built from con (“with”) and cuidado (“care”). Together here it means “carefully,” describing how the seasoning is done. For example, Corta la cebolla con cuidado. means “Cut the onion carefully.” Together, Luego podemos sazonarla con cuidado means “Then we can season it carefully.” Luego sets the time, podemos expresses what “we” are able to do, sazonarla names the action and its feminine singular object, and con cuidado specifies the manner. This is a neutral, practical way to describe the next step in a process.

8. La sopa sabe mejor ahora.

   The soup tastes better now.

   sopa

   soup

   sabe

   tastes

   mejor

   better

   ahora

   now

   More detail

   sopa is the noun “soup.” In this sentence, la before it marks a singular feminine noun, giving the reusable pattern la + noun for a specific feminine singular item. Example: La salsa está lista. — “The sauce is ready.” sabe is the third-person singular present form of saber, whose basic meaning is “to know.” With a food, drink, or other sensory subject, saber means “to taste.” Here, the subject is la sopa, so the singular form sabe is used. Example: El té sabe dulce. — “The tea tastes sweet.” mejor means “better” here. It is the comparative form related to bien (“well”) and modifies the tasting expression: sabe mejor means “tastes better.” It is not the form of the noun sopa; it describes how the soup tastes. Example: Esta salsa sabe mejor caliente. — “This sauce tastes better hot.” ahora means “now” and places the tasting at the present time. It can be moved for emphasis without changing the basic time reference: Ahora la sopa sabe mejor. — “Now the soup tastes better.” Together, La sopa identifies the food, sabe mejor says that its taste is improved relative to an understood earlier or alternative state, and ahora places that comparison in the present: “The soup tastes better now.”

9. La próxima vez podemos añadir más hierbas.

   Next time we can add more herbs.

   La próxima vez

   next time

   podemos

   we can

   añadir

   to add

   más

   more

   hierbas

   herbs

   More detail

   La próxima vez means “next time.” vez is a feminine noun meaning “time” in the sense of an occurrence or occasion, so próxima is the feminine singular form of próximo and agrees with it. The expression is a useful time phrase: la próxima vez = “next time,” while la primera vez = “the first time.” podemos comes from poder, “to be able to” or “can.” It is the present indicative, first-person plural form: “we can.” Spanish commonly uses poder plus an infinitive to express ability or possibility, as in Podemos esperar — “We can wait.” añadir is the infinitive “to add.” After a conjugated form of poder, the second verb stays in the infinitive: podemos añadir = “we can add.” The infinitive identifies the action without separately marking its subject; here, podemos supplies the “we” subject. más means “more.” It indicates a greater amount or quantity and modifies hierbas here: más hierbas = “more herbs.” It is different from muy, which means “very” and normally modifies an adjective or adverb, as in muy rápido — “very fast.” hierbas is the plural of hierba, “herb” or “grass,” with the intended meaning “herbs” here. The ending -s marks the plural. The noun is feminine, so its singular article is la and its plural article is las, as in las hierbas — “the herbs.” Together, La próxima vez sets the time, podemos añadir expresses what “we” can do, and más hierbas specifies what can be added in a greater quantity. The complete meaning is: “Next time we can add more herbs.”