Breakdown of Él prefiere cerveza sin azúcar y con una rodaja de limón.
con
with
de
of
y
and
él
he
preferir
to prefer
sin
without
una
a
el limón
the lemon
el azúcar
the sugar
la cerveza
the beer
la rodaja
the slice
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Questions & Answers about Él prefiere cerveza sin azúcar y con una rodaja de limón.
Why does él have an accent mark?
Because él is the third-person singular pronoun meaning he, and the written accent distinguishes it from the article el meaning the.
Is él necessary in this sentence?
No. Spanish is a pro-drop language, so you can omit él because prefiere already signals “he prefers.” Including él simply adds emphasis or clarity.
Why is prefiere spelled with ie in the middle?
Prefiere comes from the stem-changing verb preferir. In the present tense (except for nosotros/vosotros), the root vowel e changes to ie (e → ie).
Why doesn’t prefiere have an accent mark?
It follows the normal stress rules: prefi-e-re is a llana (stress on the penultimate syllable) ending in a vowel, so it doesn’t need a written accent.
Why is there no article before cerveza sin azúcar?
When talking about general preferences for uncountable or non-specific items (like beer), Spanish often omits the article. Also, after sin you drop any indefinite article.
Why is it sin azúcar (singular) and not sin azúcares (plural)?
Here azúcar is an uncountable noun meaning “sugar” in general. You’d only use the plural if referring to different kinds of sugar or multiple servings.
Why do we say una rodaja de limón instead of una rodaja limón?
Spanish requires de to link a slice to what it’s sliced from: rodaja de limón means “slice of lemon.”
Why is there an article una before rodaja?
A rodaja (slice) is countable here—you want “one slice” of lemon—so you need the indefinite article una.
Could you drop the y and say cerveza sin azúcar con una rodaja de limón?
Yes. Omitting y is perfectly fine. It would read as a single compound preference (“beer without sugar with a slice of lemon”). The y just emphasizes the two separate preferences.
Why use rodaja instead of rebanada or tajada?
All three mean “slice,” but rodaja usually refers to round slices from things like citrus fruits. Rebanada is more common for bread, and tajada for larger or thicker cuts (meat, cake, etc.).