Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): El pescado frito se sirve con lechuga y zanahoria rallada. - Fried fish is served with lettuce and grated carrot.

In Spanish, when you talk about something in general—like a dish or category—you often use the definite article el (or la, los, las). Here, El pescado frito means “fried fish” as a general dish. In English menus or descriptions we drop “the,” but Spanish normally keeps it.

What function does se have in se sirve?

This is the pasiva refleja (often called “passive se”). It’s a way to express “it is served” without saying who does the action. Instead of using a passive with ser (which sounds formal or literary), Spanish uses se + 3rd-person verb to show that el pescado frito gets served with no specific agent mentioned.

Why is frito placed after pescado? In English it’s “fried fish,” with the adjective first.

Spanish normally places descriptive adjectives after the noun they modify. So pescado frito literally reads “fish fried,” but we translate it as “fried fish.” Moving frito before the noun would sound unusual or poetic.

What does con indicate in se sirve con lechuga y zanahoria rallada?

The preposition con means “with.” It introduces the side items or garnishes that accompany the main dish—in this case, lettuce and grated carrot.

Why is zanahoria singular and rallada feminine singular?

Rallada is an adjective (the past participle of rallar, “to grate”) and must agree in gender and number with zanahoria, which is feminine singular. Here it describes the preparation (“grated carrot”) in a general sense. If you wanted to emphasize several carrots, you could say zanahorias ralladas.

Why doesn’t rallada apply to lechuga as well?

In this sentence, only the carrot is grated. Lettuce (lechuga) is served as whole or leaf pieces. If you also grated the lettuce, you’d specify lechuga rallada. Adjectives follow the nouns they modify.

Could I use the passive with ser—for example, El pescado frito es servido…?

Grammatically you can, but it’s uncommon in everyday Spanish. El pescado frito es servido por el chef sounds overly formal or awkward. Native speakers prefer the pasiva refleja (se sirve) for this kind of statement.

On a menu, can I drop El and se sirve, writing just Pescado frito con lechuga y zanahoria rallada?

Absolutely. Menus often use noun phrases without articles or verbs. Pescado frito con lechuga y zanahoria rallada is concise and perfectly understood as “fried fish with lettuce and grated carrot.”

I’ve seen both rallar and rayar—which one means “to grate”?

Rallar (with double l) means “to grate” (cheese, carrots). Rayar (with y) is a different verb meaning “to scratch,” “to make lines,” or “to scribble.” They’re distinct in meaning and spelling.