Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Ese trapo está seco y quita el polvo muy bien. - That cloth is dry and removes dust very well.

este / esta / estos / estas – this / these, close to the speaker.
- Este trapo = this cloth (near me).
ese / esa / esos / esas – that / those, at a middle distance, or closer to the listener than to the speaker.
- Ese trapo = that cloth (near you, or not right next to me).
aquel / aquella / aquellos / aquellas – that / those (over there), far from both speaker and listener (physical or mental distance).
- Aquel trapo = that cloth over there / that cloth we were talking about long ago.

In real-life speech, people don’t always strictly observe the distance rule, but roughly:

Use este for something close to you.
Use ese for something a bit further or nearer the other person.
Use aquel for something clearly far away or more remote in time or relevance.

So in Ese trapo está seco, the cloth is not right next to the speaker; it’s “that cloth” rather than “this cloth.”

What exactly does trapo mean here, and is it the usual word in Spain for a cleaning cloth?

Trapo literally means rag / cloth. In Spain, for cleaning, several words are common:

trapo – a general rag or cloth, often something old used for cleaning or wiping.
bayeta – a cleaning cloth, especially those yellow/green synthetic ones used for kitchens.
paño – a cloth, often a bit more formal or specific (e.g., paño de cocina, paño de limpiar).
trapo del polvo – a dust cloth (rag specifically for dusting).

In Ese trapo está seco y quita el polvo muy bien, trapo is understood as a cleaning rag/cloth used for dusting. It doesn’t sound strange in Spain; it’s normal everyday vocabulary.

Why is it está seco with estar, and not es seco with ser?

In Spanish, estar usually expresses a temporary state or a result of a change, while ser expresses a permanent or defining characteristic.

Ese trapo está seco = That cloth is dry (now). It’s in a dry state, probably because it has dried after being wet.
Ese trapo es seco would sound odd for a physical cloth. It would suggest that “being dry” is some sort of inherent, defining property, which doesn’t really make sense here.

Compare:

El desierto es seco. = The desert is dry (by nature, permanently).
Mi ropa está seca. = My clothes are dry (at the moment, after drying).

So está seco is correct here because we’re talking about its current physical condition.

Why is seco masculine and singular? Would it change with a different noun?

Adjectives in Spanish agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

trapo is masculine singular → el trapo.
Therefore the adjective must also be masculine singular → seco.

If the noun were feminine or plural, the adjective would change:

Esa bayeta está seca. (feminine singular)
Esos trapos están secos. (masculine plural)
Esas bayetas están secas. (feminine plural)

In the sentence, Ese trapo está seco, the agreement is:

trapo (m.sg.) + seco (m.sg.) → correct.

What does quita el polvo literally mean, and why use quitar instead of another verb?

The verb quitar means to remove / to take away / to get rid of.
Quita el polvo literally means it removes the dust.

In English we’d usually say:

it dusts very well, or
it removes dust very well, or
it’s very good for dusting.

In Spanish, for dusting specifically, these are common:

quitar el polvo – remove dust (very natural, everyday)
limpiar el polvo – clean/remove dust (also common)
sacudir el polvo – shake off dust (more literally, to shake the cloth to remove dust)

So quita el polvo is a very normal, idiomatic way to say it’s good at removing dust.

Why is it quita el polvo and not quita polvo without the article?

In Spanish, with a general or mass noun like polvo (dust), it’s very common to use the definite article el when you mean “dust in general” in a situation like this.

quitar el polvo = remove (the) dust (in general, the dust that is there).

If you said quita polvo without el, it would sound incomplete or unnatural here, almost like it takes away some dust but not in the idiomatic way people talk about dusting.

Compare:

Bebo agua. = I drink water. (no article; water in general)
Quito el polvo. = I dust / I remove the dust. (fixed expression; uses el).

So for dusting as a regular activity, Spanish prefers quitar el polvo, with the article.

Does polvo have other meanings I should be aware of?

Yes, polvo mainly means:

Dust – as in this sentence.
Powder – e.g., polvo de talco (talcum powder), polvos de maquillaje (makeup powders).

There is also a vulgar slang meaning:

echar un polvo = to have sex (very colloquial and sexual).

Context normally makes it clear which meaning is intended. In quita el polvo, it is unmistakably dust. Still, it’s good to be aware of the slang meaning so you’re not surprised when you hear it in other contexts.

What form of the verb is quita, and what is its subject?

Quita is the third person singular, present indicative of quitar:

yo quito – I remove
tú quitas – you remove
él/ella/usted quita – he/she/you remove
nosotros quitamos – we remove
vosotros quitáis – you (pl.) remove
ellos/ellas/ustedes quitan – they/you (pl.) remove

In the sentence, ese trapo is the subject, so:

Ese trapo (he/it) → quita (removes) el polvo.

You don’t need a separate subject pronoun (él); the noun ese trapo already functions as the subject.

Can the word order of quita el polvo muy bien be changed, for example to quita muy bien el polvo?

Yes, there is some flexibility, and both are grammatically correct:

quita el polvo muy bien – most neutral, very common.
quita muy bien el polvo – also correct and natural; just slightly different rhythm.

Putting muy bien in the middle or at the end is normal. What would sound marked or unusual is starting with the adverb:

Muy bien quita el polvo ese trapo. – possible, but sounds quite literary or emphatic, not everyday speech.

So the original quita el polvo muy bien is the most straightforward, natural order.

Why is it muy bien and not muy bueno at the end?

In Spanish:

bien is an adverb = well.
bueno is an adjective = good.

Adverbs modify verbs; adjectives modify nouns. Here, we’re describing how the trapo removes dust, i.e. how it quita.

quita el polvo muy bien = it removes dust very well.
quita el polvo muy bueno would be incorrect, because bueno (adjective) cannot directly modify the verb quita.

If you wanted to use bueno, you’d have to make it describe the cloth (a noun), not the action:

Ese trapo es muy bueno para quitar el polvo. = That cloth is very good for removing dust.

Could we say Ese trapo está seco y limpia el polvo muy bien instead of quita el polvo? Would it mean the same?

Yes, you can say:

Ese trapo está seco y limpia el polvo muy bien.

This is also natural. Nuance:

limpiar el polvo – to clean dust / dust.
quitar el polvo – to remove dust / dust.

Both are used in Spain for dusting. Quitar el polvo is probably slightly more frequent, but limpiar el polvo doesn’t sound wrong or strange at all.

Can we change the order and say Ese trapo, seco, quita el polvo muy bien? Is that acceptable?

Yes, that is grammatically correct, but more stylistic and a bit more written or expressive:

Ese trapo, seco, quita el polvo muy bien.

Here, seco acts like an appositive adjective, almost like a side comment:

That cloth, dry, removes dust very well.

The original sentence Ese trapo está seco y quita el polvo muy bien is more neutral and conversational. The version with commas sounds a bit more descriptive or literary.