Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): El chef rompe un huevo sobre la sartén caliente y añade aceite de oliva. - The chef cracks an egg onto the hot pan and adds olive oil.

While rompe can function as the second‐person singular imperative (“crack!”), in this sentence it’s the third‐person singular present indicative, since we have El chef rompe…. It simply describes what the chef is doing.

Why is sobre used instead of en or encima de?

Sobre means “on” or “upon.” In cooking contexts you often say crack the egg sobre the pan to emphasize that the egg lands directly on its surface. You could also say en la sartén, but sobre highlights the placing action. Encima de la sartén is more wordy, though also correct.

Why is the noun sartén feminine?

Spanish gender is often arbitrary. Although sartén ends in -én, it’s a feminine noun: la sartén. Like many exceptions, this gender must simply be memorized.

Why does sartén have a written accent on the é?

Words ending in n, s or a vowel are normally stressed on the penultimate syllable. Sartén is stressed on its final syllable (sar-TÉN), so it needs an accent mark on é to show that exception.

Why is the adjective caliente placed after sartén?

Descriptive adjectives in Spanish generally follow the noun: la sartén caliente (“the hot pan”). Putting caliente before the noun (as in la caliente sartén) is grammatically possible but gives a more poetic or emphatic nuance, not the neutral tone typical of recipes.

What’s the difference between añadir and agregar?

Both verbs mean “to add” and are interchangeable across Latin America. Some regions might show a slight preference, but the meaning remains the same.

Why is there no article before aceite de oliva in añade aceite de oliva?

In recipe or instruction style, Spanish often omits the article to express “add some oil” rather than a specific oil. You could say añade el aceite de oliva if you refer to a known bottle, but general instructions drop the article.

Why use aceite de oliva instead of aceite oliva?

To indicate type or origin, Spanish uses de: aceite de oliva literally “oil from olives.” Omitting de (aceite oliva) would be nonstandard.

Can I use cascar instead of romper for cracking an egg?

Yes. Cascar is idiomatic for “to crack an egg,” while romper is more general (“to break”). In cooking contexts, cascar el huevo is common, but romper el huevo also works.

Should there be an indirect object pronoun with añadir, like le añade aceite?

Not here. Añadir is used transitively with aceite de oliva as the direct object. You could say añade aceite a la sartén (“add oil to the pan”), but since the pan is implied, no le is needed.