Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): El menú incluye café gratis y un postre, pero yo prefiero té con azúcar. - The menu includes free coffee and a dessert, but I prefer tea with sugar.

Yes, you can drop it: pero prefiero té con azúcar is perfectly correct. Spanish normally omits subject pronouns because the verb ending (prefiero) already shows the subject. Including yo adds emphasis or contrast—here it highlights “I, personally,” especially after pero.

Why is it pero and not sino?

Use pero for simple contrast without a prior negation. Use sino after a negation to correct or replace what was just denied.

With negation: No quiero café, sino té.
Without negation (like your sentence): … pero yo prefiero té.

Why is there no article before té, but there is un before postre?

With food/drink in a general sense, Spanish often omits the article: prefiero té (I prefer tea, generically).
Un postre uses the indefinite article because it’s a countable, single portion included in the menu. You could also say prefiero el té (see next question) or the menu could say incluye un café—both are common, depending on the nuance.

Could I say prefiero el té con azúcar? What’s the difference from prefiero té?

Both are fine.

Prefiero el té tends to sound like a general preference for tea as a type (very common in Spanish).
Prefiero té is also used, often sounding a bit more like “I prefer (to have) tea” in this context. If referring to a specific tea (e.g., the one on this menu), el té is more natural.

Is café gratis okay, or should it be un café gratis?

Both exist, but they imply slightly different things:

Café gratis treats coffee as a service/amenity included for free (maybe unlimited or not specifying quantity).
Un café gratis suggests one free coffee per person or per menu. In Spain, you’ll often see offers like El menú incluye un café y un postre. Adding gratis simply emphasizes “free.”

What’s the difference between gratis and gratuito?

They both mean “free (of charge).”

Gratis is the everyday choice.
Gratuito is more formal. Note that gratuito can also mean “unjustified” in contexts like una agresión gratuita (an unprovoked attack).

Why is gratis placed after café? Can it go before?

As a modifier, gratis typically comes after the noun: café gratis, entradas gratis. Before the noun is uncommon here. As an adverb, it can follow a verb: dan café gratis (“they give free coffee”).

What gender is azúcar? Do I need an article in con azúcar?

Azúcar is mostly masculine in the singular: el azúcar, un azúcar. With adjectives you’ll usually hear masculine agreement: el azúcar blanco/moreno. Some speakers use feminine in certain combinations (la azúcar morena), but masculine is more general.
In con azúcar, no article is needed because it’s a mass noun: “with sugar.”

Why do té, café, menú, and azúcar have accents?

té has a diacritic accent to distinguish it from the pronoun te.
café and menú are stressed on the last syllable, which breaks the default stress rule for words ending in a vowel, so they take an accent.
azúcar is stressed on -zú- (not the last syllable), which breaks the default rule for words ending in a consonant other than n/s, so it takes an accent on ú.

How do I pronounce these in Spain?

azúcar: a-THÚ-kar (the z is like English “th” in “think” in most of Spain).
incluye: in-KLOO-yeh (the y/ll sound is like a soft “y”).
menú: meh-NOO.
café: ka-FEH.
gratis: GRA-tees (both GRA-tis and GRA-tees are heard).
postre: POS-treh.
pero: PEH-roh.
prefiero: pre-FYER-oh (the ie forms a diphthong).
té: teh.

Why does incluye have a y instead of an i?

It comes from the verb incluir. In the present tense, the stem’s i becomes y before a vowel in most forms: incluyo, incluyes, incluye, incluyen; but incluimos, incluís keep the i.

Could I use contiene or lleva instead of incluye?

incluye is the standard for what’s included in a deal or package.
contiene is more about physical contents (e.g., a bottle contains water) and is less idiomatic for a menu offer.
lleva is very common in recipes/ingredients (“this dish has/uses…”). For a fixed-price menu, incluye is the safest choice.

Is the comma before pero necessary?

It’s recommended when pero connects two independent clauses, as here: …, pero yo prefiero…. You’ll see it both with and without the comma in informal writing, but the comma is standard.

Why is it y and not e?

Spanish changes y to e only before words that start with the “ee” sound (i-/hi-): padres e hijos, arte e historia. Since un starts with u, you keep y: café gratis y un postre.

How does preferir work here? Can I say other things after it?

Patterns:

preferir + noun: prefiero té / prefiero el té.
preferir + infinitive: prefiero tomar té / prefiero beber té.
When comparing: prefiero el té al café (“I prefer tea to coffee”).

In Spain, is menú the same as “menu” in English? What about carta?

Not exactly. In Spain:

el menú (del día) usually means a fixed-price set (starter + main + dessert/drink).
la carta is the full à la carte list of dishes. So El menú incluye… fits the idea of a set deal.

Does postre mean the same as English “dessert”? Is it the same as sobremesa?

postre = dessert (the sweet course).
sobremesa is the lingering chat at the table after the meal; it’s not the dessert.