Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): El mantel queda bonito y los cubiertos están limpios. - The tablecloth looks nice and the cutlery is clean.

Here quedar + adjective means “to look/turn out/seem.” So queda bonito = “looks nice/turns out nice.” It’s not “remains” here. With clothes or decoration, Spaniards often use quedar to judge appearance or suitability (e.g., Ese color te queda bien = “That color looks good on you”).

Why not El mantel es bonito or está bonito?

Es bonito describes an inherent quality: “it’s (by nature) pretty.”
Está bonito describes a temporary state/appearance right now.
Queda bonito focuses on the result or how it looks in context (after putting it on the table, ironing it, matching other items, etc.). In Spain, queda is very idiomatic for this “it looks/it works well” idea.

Why is it bonito and not bonita?

Adjectives agree with the noun’s gender and number. Mantel is masculine singular (el mantel), so the adjective is masculine singular: bonito. If it were la mesa, you’d say bonita.

Can I say El mantel queda bien instead of queda bonito?

Yes. Quedar bien is very common and slightly more neutral: “looks good/suits.” Queda bonito is a bit more subjective (“pretty”).

Could I use se ve here, like El mantel se ve bonito?

Yes. Se ve (bonito/bien) = “it looks (pretty/good).” In Spain, both se ve and queda are natural; queda often implies suitability or end result, while se ve is a straightforward “it looks.”

Why están limpios and not son limpios for the cutlery?

With objects, estar + adjective expresses a current state/condition: están limpios = “are (now) clean.” Ser limpio usually describes a person’s characteristic (a tidy/clean person). Los cubiertos son limpios would sound odd.

What exactly are los cubiertos? Doesn’t cubiertos also mean “covered”?

Los cubiertos (noun) = cutlery/silverware (forks, knives, spoons).
Cubierto can also be an adjective/past participle of cubrir (“covered”). Context and the article los make it clear we’re talking about the noun. Note that están cubiertos (without the article and with no noun) would mean “they are covered.”

Why is it plural (los cubiertos están) when English often says “the cutlery is …”?

In Spanish, cubiertos is a regular plural count noun (“pieces of cutlery”), so the verb is plural (están). English treats “cutlery” as an uncountable singular.

Why limpios (plural) and not limpio?

Adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number. Cubiertos is masculine plural, so the adjective must be masculine plural: limpios.

Why use the definite articles el and los? Could I say un mantel or unos cubiertos?

El mantel / los cubiertos: specific/known items in the context (the tablecloth on the table; the cutlery you’re talking about).
Un mantel / unos cubiertos: non-specific (“a tablecloth,” “some cutlery”). Spanish uses definite articles more frequently than English when the item is specific.

Why y and not e before los?

Spanish changes y to e only before words starting with the “i” sound (i-, hi-), e.g., padres e hijos. Since los starts with an “l,” you keep y.

What’s the difference between quedar and quedarse here?

Quedar + adj. = “to look/turn out” (general/habitual): El mantel queda bonito.
Quedarse + adj. focuses on the result after a specific change: very common in perfect tenses in Spain: Se ha quedado bonito (“It ended up looking nice [after we did X]”). Using simple present se queda bonito is much less idiomatic in this meaning.

Why queda (singular) but están (plural)?

Subject–verb agreement:

El mantel (singular) → queda.
Los cubiertos (plural) → están. If the subject changed, the verb form would change too: Los manteles quedan bonitos.

How do I pronounce the tricky parts?

mantel: man-TEL (stress on the last syllable).
queda: KEH-da (the qu before e gives a hard “k” sound).
cubiertos: koo-BYER-tos (Spanish b and v sound the same).
están: es-TÁN (the accent marks the stress).

Does un cubierto mean anything special?

Yes. Un cubierto can mean a single place setting/diner (restaurant jargon) and, in some contexts/countries, a “cover charge.” La cubertería refers to the set of cutlery as an object.

Why not están limpiados instead of están limpios?

Están limpios uses the adjective “clean” to state the current condition—most natural here.
Han sido limpiados / están limpiados uses a participle/passive to stress the action of having been cleaned; it’s correct but heavier and less common unless you want to emphasize the cleaning process.