Servir la comida caliente es importante.

to be

Breakdown of Servir la comida caliente es importante.

• importante: important
• la comida: the food
• servir: to serve
• caliente: hot

Questions & Answers about Servir la comida caliente es importante.

What role does ‘servir’ play in the sentence?

In Spanish, servir in its infinitive form can function as a noun. Here, it’s acting as the subject of the verb es. So, “Servir la comida caliente” is treated like “To serve the food hot” in English.

Why do we use ‘la comida caliente’ instead of just ‘comida caliente’?

We include the definite article la because we’re talking about food in a general or collective sense—“the food” as a concept rather than some unspecified food. Also, in Spanish, it’s common to express general statements with the definite article.

Does ‘caliente’ change form to agree with ‘comida’?

No, caliente has the same singular form whether it modifies feminine nouns or masculine nouns. If you were talking about multiple items (e.g., foods), you might say calientes (plural). But since la comida is singular, caliente stays in its singular form.

Why do we use ‘es’ instead of ‘está’ in this case?

Here, es is used to express an intrinsic or essential characteristic—serving the food hot is fundamentally important. Está typically indicates more temporary states or conditions, so es conveys the general fact that this practice is important.

Can we switch the order to ‘Es importante servir la comida caliente’?

Yes. In Spanish, you can start with Es importante... and then follow it with the infinitive phrase. The meaning is essentially the same: you’re stating that it’s important to serve the food hot. The original order just emphasizes the act of serving slightly more.