Cuando el café está caliente, lo bebo despacio.

When the coffee is hot, I drink it slowly.

Breakdown of Cuando el café está caliente, lo bebo despacio.

• estar: to be
• beber: to drink
• el café: the coffee
• cuando: when

Questions & Answers about Cuando el café está caliente, lo bebo despacio.

Why is está used here instead of es?

Estar (está) expresses temporary states or conditions—like the coffee’s temperature—whereas ser (es) describes more permanent or inherent qualities. Since temperature changes, we say el café está caliente.

Why does está have an accent mark?

The accent on está distinguishes it from the demonstrative adjective esta (“this”). Without the accent, esta means “this (feminine),” but está is the third-person singular of estar in the present indicative.

Why do we use lo before bebo? Can we omit it?

Lo is a direct‐object pronoun replacing el café (masculine, singular). Omitting lo would leave the object unexpressed, so you’d just say Bebo despacio, which is grammatically fine but less specific. Including lo (“I drink it slowly”) clarifies what you’re drinking.

Could we put despacio before bebo, as in despacio bebo?

Adverbs of manner like despacio typically follow the conjugated verb in Spanish. Saying despacio bebo sounds awkward or poetic. The normal word order is lo bebo despacio.