El plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas los sábados por la tarde.

The nutritional plan allows a fruit smoothie on Saturday afternoons.

Breakdown of El plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas los sábados por la tarde.

• de: of
• los: the
• el sábado: the Saturday
• la fruta: the fruit
• un: a
• permitir: to allow
• la tarde: the afternoon
• por: in
• el plan: the plan
• nutricional: nutritional
• el batido: the smoothie

Questions & Answers about El plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas los sábados por la tarde.

Why is it permite un batido and not something like permite tomar un batido?

In Spanish, permitir can be followed directly by:

1. A noun (what is allowed):

   • El plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas.
     → The nutritional plan allows a fruit shake.

2. An infinitive verb (the action that is allowed):

   • El plan nutricional permite tomar un batido de frutas.
     → The nutritional plan allows (you) to have a fruit shake.

Both are grammatically correct.

• permite un batido focuses on the item that is allowed.
• permite tomar un batido focuses on the action of having it.

In diet or nutrition contexts, it’s very common to see permitir + noun to list allowed foods.

Why is it permite (singular) and not permiten?

The verb must agree with the subject:

• Subject: El plan nutricional → singular
• Therefore: permite (3rd person singular of permitir)

Permiten would be used if the subject were plural, e.g.:

• Los planes nutricionales permiten un batido de frutas.
  Nutritional plans allow a fruit shake.

What does los do in los sábados, and why not just sábados?

In Spanish, article + plural day of the week expresses a habitual or repeated action:

• los sábados = on Saturdays / every Saturday (habitually)

Without the article:

• Sábados por la tarde is sometimes heard in speech, but los sábados por la tarde is the standard way to say on Saturday afternoons in a general, recurring sense.

You do not normally say en los sábados for this meaning. The preposition en is usually not used before days of the week in this way.

Why is it los sábados instead of el sábado?

• el sábado por la tarde = on Saturday afternoon (one specific Saturday)
• los sábados por la tarde = on Saturday afternoons / on Saturdays in the afternoon (every or most Saturdays, habitually)

Since the sentence is about what the plan generally allows as a rule, los sábados (plural) is more natural.

What exactly does por la tarde mean, and how is it different from en la tarde or de la tarde?

• por la tarde = in the afternoon / during the afternoon

  • Very common and neutral across the Spanish-speaking world.

• en la tarde

  • Used in some regions of Latin America, but por la tarde is more standard and more widely taught.

• de la tarde

  • Usually used with a specific time:
    
    • a las 3 de la tarde = at 3 in the afternoon
  • Not normally used alone to mean in the afternoon.

In your sentence, por la tarde is the natural choice:
los sábados por la tarde = on Saturday afternoons.

Why is it la tarde and not el tarde?

Because tarde is a feminine noun in Spanish:

• la tarde = the afternoon
• por la tarde = in the afternoon

Grammatical gender is mostly arbitrary and must be memorized:

• la tarde (feminine)
• la noche (feminine)
• la mañana (feminine)

The article la agrees with the feminine noun tarde.

Why is it plan nutricional instead of nutricional plan, and is that word order always like this?

In Spanish, the normal order is:

• noun + adjective
  
  • plan nutricional = nutritional plan
  • plan semanal = weekly plan
  • dieta estricta = strict diet

So plan nutricional is the expected order.

Adjectives can sometimes come before the noun for stylistic or meaning reasons (especially descriptive or subjective ones), but with a technical adjective like nutricional, the standard is plan nutricional, not nutricional plan.

Is there a difference between plan nutricional and plan de nutrición?

Both are understandable and often interchangeable, but there are nuances:

• plan nutricional

  • Uses the adjective nutricional.
  • Sounds a bit more technical or specialized.
  • Very common in professional or marketing language about diets.

• plan de nutrición

  • Literally plan of nutrition.
  • Slightly more descriptive: a plan related to nutrition.
  • Also acceptable, but plan nutricional is shorter and more idiomatic in many contexts.

In most diet contexts, plan nutricional is the more natural-sounding expression.

Why un batido de frutas and not un batido de fruta?

Both are grammatically possible, but they suggest slightly different ideas:

• un batido de frutas

  • Literally a shake of fruits (plural).
  • Implies a mix of different fruits or fruit in general.
  • This is the most common, natural phrasing.

• un batido de fruta

  • Could be understood as a shake of fruit (unquantified mass),
    but it sounds less idiomatic in many regions for this meaning.

So un batido de frutas is the standard way to say fruit shake / fruit smoothie.

What are the genders of batido and fruta, and how do they affect the sentence?

• batido is masculine: el batido, un batido

  • That’s why the sentence uses un (masculine singular article).

• fruta is feminine: la fruta, una fruta, las frutas

  • In un batido de frutas, frutas is plural, but it doesn’t change the article un, because that article belongs to batido, not to frutas.

Structure:

• un (masculine, singular) → agrees with batido
• de frutas → prepositional phrase describing the kind of shake

In Latin America, could you say licuado de frutas instead of batido de frutas?

Yes, in much of Latin America:

• licuado de frutas is very common, especially in Mexico and Central America.
• batido de frutas is also used, but licuado may sound more natural in some regions.

Both mean something like fruit shake / fruit smoothie. The choice often depends on the country:

• Spain: batido is more common.
• Mexico, Central America: licuado is very frequent.
• Other Latin American countries: both exist, with regional preferences.

Why does the sentence use El plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas… instead of Se permite un batido de frutas…?

Both are correct, but they have different focuses:

• El plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas…

  • Explicit subject: el plan nutricional.
  • Emphasizes that the plan as a set of rules is allowing it.

• Se permite un batido de frutas los sábados por la tarde.

  • Impersonal/passive construction with se.
  • Means A fruit shake is allowed on Saturday afternoons.
  • Focuses more on the rule itself, not on who is allowing it.

In a text about a diet plan, naming the subject (el plan nutricional) is clear and natural, especially when explaining the rules.

Where can the time expression los sábados por la tarde go in the sentence? Can it move?

Yes, time expressions are fairly flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:

1. El plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas los sábados por la tarde.
2. Los sábados por la tarde, el plan nutricional permite un batido de frutas.
3. El plan nutricional, los sábados por la tarde, permite un batido de frutas.

Version 1 (the original) is very natural: subject + verb + object + time.
Version 2 emphasizes the time frame (On Saturday afternoons…).
Version 3 is correct but less common in everyday speech.