Breakdown of Hay que leer la etiqueta para saber cuánta sal tiene cada porción.
Questions & Answers about Hay que leer la etiqueta para saber cuánta sal tiene cada porción.
Hay que is an impersonal expression that means something like “one must / you have to / it’s necessary to.”
- It does not say who specifically has to do it.
- It’s a general recommendation or rule that applies to people in general.
So Hay que leer la etiqueta is closer to:
- “You should read the label” (in a general sense), or
- “It’s necessary to read the label,” rather than “We have to read the label” or “I have to read the label.”
All three express obligation, but the subject changes:
Hay que leer la etiqueta
– Impersonal, general: “You/one must read the label.” (applies to people in general)Tenemos que leer la etiqueta
– Specific subject: “We have to read the label.”Tienes que leer la etiqueta
– Specific subject: “You (singular, informal) have to read the label.”
In everyday Latin American Spanish, hay que + infinitive is very common when giving general advice or stating a rule, especially in health, instructions, and public information.
In Spanish, a noun used in this kind of concrete, specific way almost always takes a definite article (el, la, los, las).
- Leer la etiqueta = “to read the label” (the specific label on the product you’re holding)
- Saying just leer etiqueta would sound incomplete or ungrammatical here.
In context, la etiqueta refers to the product’s label, very likely the nutrition label, which is understood from the situation. Spanish still uses la even when English might drop the or use the noun more generally.
After hay que, the verb is always in the infinitive:
- hay que leer
- hay que comer
- hay que hacer ejercicio
That’s because hay que is a fixed structure meaning “it is necessary to …”, and what follows is the action in its base form (the infinitive). You never say “hay que leemos” or “hay que lee”.
Both are grammatically possible, but they work differently:
para + infinitive (here: para saber)
– Very common way to express purpose: “in order to know.”
– The subject is usually understood to be the same as in the main clause (the people who must read the label are the ones who will know).para que + subjunctive (e.g., para que sepamos)
– Also expresses purpose, but introduces a new clause and usually emphasizes a different or separate subject:- Hay que leer la etiqueta para que sepamos cuánta sal tiene cada porción.
We have to read the label so that we (will) know how much salt each serving has.
- Hay que leer la etiqueta para que sepamos cuánta sal tiene cada porción.
In everyday speech, para + infinitive (para saber, para entender, para comprar, etc.) is more direct and very frequent, especially when the subject is the same.
Cuánta has an accent because it is an interrogative/ exclamative word inside an indirect question:
- Direct question: ¿Cuánta sal tiene cada porción?
- Indirect question: …para saber cuánta sal tiene cada porción.
In both cases, cuánta keeps the accent because it retains its interrogative sense (you are “asking” how much salt, just indirectly).
Forms with accents:
- cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas (how much / how many)
Without accents (cuanto, cuanta, cuantos, cuantas) they function as relative adjectives/pronouns meaning things like “as much as,” “however much,” etc., not as question words.
Cuánto agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies.
- sal is feminine and usually uncountable → cuánta sal (how much salt)
- Masculine singular: cuánto azúcar (how much sugar – in many regions azúcar is treated as masculine in grammar)
- Feminine plural: cuántas calorías
- Masculine plural: cuántos gramos
So you must say cuánta sal, not cuánto sal.
Both are possible, but the structure and focus differ:
cuánta sal tiene cada porción
- Literally: “how much salt each portion has.”
- Uses tener (to have), treating the portion as the subject that has salt.
cuánta sal hay en cada porción
- Literally: “how much salt there is in each portion.”
- Uses hay (there is / there are), focusing on existence/quantity of salt in the portion.
Both are natural in Latin American Spanish. Using tener here is very common when talking about foods and nutrients:
- ¿Cuántas calorías tiene?
- ¿Cuánto sodio tiene esta sopa?
In indirect questions in Spanish, the word order usually follows the question pattern, not the normal statement pattern.
- Direct question: ¿Cuánta sal tiene cada porción?
(cuánta sal- tiene
- cada porción)
- tiene
The indirect question keeps this pattern:
- …para saber cuánta sal tiene cada porción.
If you say cada porción tiene cuánta sal, it sounds wrong or at best like an incomplete exclamation, not a normal sentence. The interrogative word cuánta pulls the verb in front, as in real questions.
Cada means “each” or “every.”
Important points:
- Cada is invariable: it never changes form, no plural form like cadas.
- It is always followed by a singular noun:
- cada porción = each portion / each serving
- cada persona = each person
- cada día = every day
So you say cada porción, not cadas porciones. Grammatically, it’s singular, but the meaning is distributive over all portions.
Yes, and the nuance would change:
cada porción
– each serving: you’re talking about all servings individually.
– Focus is on the amount per serving, consistently.la porción
– the serving: refers to a particular serving already known in context.
– Cuánta sal tiene la porción would usually refer to one specific serving.una porción
– a serving: one nonspecific serving.
– Cuánta sal tiene una porción = how much salt does a serving have (in general), but this is less standard than cada porción for nutritional information, which is usually expressed per serving.
On labels and nutrition-related speech, por cada porción / en cada porción is the most natural way to express “per serving.”
Yes, you can say:
- Se debe leer la etiqueta para saber cuánta sal tiene cada porción.
Both hay que and se debe give a general recommendation/obligation:
Hay que leer la etiqueta…
– Very common, slightly more colloquial/neutral.Se debe leer la etiqueta…
– Slightly more formal or impersonal, often seen in written instructions, manuals, official advice.
The meaning in this context is practically the same: it’s a recommendation or rule for people in general.