El legatario recibe el legado sin perjuicio de la legítima.

A legatario is a person who receives a specific bequest left in a will, such as a house, a painting, or a sum of money.

A heredero is an heir, someone who succeeds to all or part of the estate more generally.

In Spanish legal language, that distinction is important:

• legatario = receives a particular item or right
• heredero = takes on the inheritance as a whole or a share of it

So this sentence is specifically about a legatee, not an heir in the broad sense.

They come from the same legal root:

• legado = the bequest/legacy itself
• legatario = the person who receives that bequest

This is a common word-building pattern in Spanish. The object and the person connected to it often have related forms.

So you can think of it like:

• legado = what is left
• legatario = who gets it

In Spain, la legítima is a specific legal concept in inheritance law. It is the part of the estate that the law reserves for certain heirs, especially close family members.

So it does not just mean something vague like the legitimate part in ordinary English. It refers to a technical legal institution: the reserved portion or forced share.

That is why this sentence is hard to translate naturally unless you know the legal background.

No. Here, la legítima is not simply the adjective legitimate.

It is a noun or set legal term. In this context, it refers to the legally protected share of the estate.

So even though it comes from the same family as legítimo / legítima, in this sentence it functions as a technical legal expression, not as a normal descriptive adjective.

Sin perjuicio de is a very common formal and legal expression. In this sentence, it means something like:

• without prejudice to
• without affecting
• subject to
• without undermining

So the idea is:

The legatee receives the bequest, but that must not harm or reduce the rights protected by the forced share.

This is one of those phrases that is best learned as a fixed expression, especially in legal Spanish.

The present tense in legal Spanish is often used to state a general rule or legal principle, not something happening right now at this exact moment.

So recibe here means something like:

• receives
• is entitled to receive
• takes

This is similar to English legal style, where the present tense is also used for rules:

• The buyer pays...
• The tenant is responsible for...

So recibe is the normal tense here.

Yes. Spanish generally uses definite articles more often than English, especially in formal and legal writing.

Here:

• el legatario
• el legado
• la legítima

all refer to clearly identified legal categories or institutions. The articles make the sentence sound complete and idiomatic.

In English, you might sometimes leave an article out or phrase things differently, but in Spanish this article use is very natural.

Because el legatario is the subject of the verb, not the direct object.

The personal a is used before a specific human direct object, for example:

• Veo al legatario = I see the legatee

But in your sentence:

• El legatario recibe el legado

the person is doing the action, so no a is used.

Structure:

• El legatario = subject
• recibe = verb
• el legado = direct object

Yes, but the original order is very natural for legal Spanish.

For example, you could also say:

• Sin perjuicio de la legítima, el legatario recibe el legado.

That version puts the limiting condition first.

However, the original:

• El legatario recibe el legado sin perjuicio de la legítima.

is very typical of legal style because it states the main rule first and then adds the qualification at the end.

Legal Spanish prefers precision over variety. Repeating nouns like el legatario, el legado, and la legítima helps avoid ambiguity.

In ordinary conversation, Spanish might use pronouns more freely, but legal writing often repeats full terms so there is no doubt about who or what is being referred to.

So this repetition sounds normal in legal language, even if it feels slightly heavy from an everyday style point of view.

The accent mark shows where the stress falls:

• le-GÍ-ti-ma

Without the written accent, Spanish spelling rules would lead you to stress it differently.

So the accent is there for pronunciation and correct spelling. It is especially useful for learners because it clearly marks the stressed syllable.

It is definitely legal/formal language.

Words and expressions such as:

• legatario
• legado
• sin perjuicio de
• la legítima

belong strongly to the language of inheritance law.

A native speaker would understand that this sounds like something from a legal text, a will, a textbook, or a statute, not casual conversation. In everyday Spanish, people would usually explain the same idea in a simpler and less technical way.