Breakdown of La sopa té una mica de sal.
tenir
to have
la sopa
the soup
la sal
the salt
una mica de
a little
Questions & Answers about La sopa té una mica de sal.
Why is it té here? Doesn’t tenir usually mean to have?
Yes. In this sentence, té is the 3rd person singular form of tenir: it has.
Catalan often uses tenir in places where English might also use have:
- La sopa té sal = The soup has salt
- La casa té tres habitacions = The house has three rooms
So La sopa té una mica de sal is completely natural in Catalan.
What does una mica de mean exactly?
Una mica de means a little bit of or simply a little.
It is a very common quantity expression in Catalan:
- una mica de pa = a little bread
- una mica d’aigua = a little water
- una mica de sucre = a little sugar
So in this sentence, una mica de sal means a little salt.
Why is there a de before sal?