Breakdown of Yo agrego agua fría al café.
yo
I
el café
the coffee
a
to
el agua
the water
frío
cold
agregar
to add
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Questions & Answers about Yo agrego agua fría al café.
Why is yo used at the beginning of the sentence? Is it necessary?
The subject pronoun yo is optional in Spanish because the verb ending -o already shows first-person singular. It’s included here for emphasis or clarity, but you can drop it: Agrego agua fría al café.
What does agrego mean, and why not agrega or agregas?
Agrego is the first-person singular present form of agregar (“to add”), meaning “I add.”
- Agrega = third person singular (“he/she adds” or formal “you add”).
- Agregas = second person singular informal (“you add”).
Can I use añadir instead of agregar?
Yes. Añadir is a common synonym for agregar, especially in recipes or formal contexts. Both mean “to add.” For example, Yo añado agua fría al café is perfectly correct and means the same thing.
Why is there no article before agua fría but there is al before café?
When you talk about a substance in general (“cold water” as an unspecified quantity), Spanish often omits the article: agua fría.
The coffee, however, is specific (“the coffee I have”), so you use the definite article el, which contracts with a to form al: al café.
If agua is feminine, why do you use el instead of la?
Although agua is grammatically feminine, Spanish uses el (not la) before singular feminine nouns that begin with a stressed a- to avoid the sound clash. Adjectives and other agreements remain feminine: el agua fría, esta agua.
Why is fría placed after agua, and why does it agree in gender and number?
In Spanish, adjectives normally follow the noun they modify. They must agree in gender (feminine) and number (singular) with that noun, so fría matches agua. You could put it before for emphasis (fría agua), but it’s much more common after.
What does al stand for, and when do I use al, a la, a los, or a las?
Al is the contraction of a + el (“to the”).
- Use al before masculine singular nouns.
- A la before feminine singular.
- A los before masculine plural.
- A las before feminine plural.
It marks where or to whom you add something: “I add cold water to the coffee” = al café.
Could I include an indirect object pronoun and say Le agrego agua fría al café?
Yes. Spanish typically uses a dative clitic (le) for indirect objects even when the noun is present.
Le agrego agua fría al café is common and grammatically correct. The pronoun simply reinforces the idea of “to the coffee.” Omitting it (Agrego agua fría al café) is also acceptable but slightly less explicit.
Why is the simple present Agrego used instead of the present progressive Estoy agregando?
Spanish often uses the simple present to express both habitual actions and actions happening right now. If you want to stress that the action is in progress at this very moment, use the present progressive: Estoy agregando agua fría al café (“I am adding cold water to the coffee”). But Agrego is perfectly natural for a general statement.