El suelo está sucio después de cenar.

The floor is dirty after dinner.

Breakdown of El suelo está sucio después de cenar.

• estar: to be
• después de: after
• cenar: to have dinner
• el suelo: the floor
• sucio: dirty

Questions & Answers about El suelo está sucio después de cenar.

Why is it el suelo and not la suelo?

In Spanish, every noun has a grammatical gender that must be memorized.

• Suelo (floor, ground) is a masculine noun, so it takes the article el.
  
  • el suelo = the floor
• If a noun is masculine, you use el (singular) or los (plural).
• If it is feminine, you use la (singular) or las (plural).

There is no logical reason why suelo is masculine; it’s just part of the word that you learn with its article: el suelo.

What’s the difference between suelo and piso for “floor”? Which one is more common in Spain?

In Spain:

• Suelo = the surface you walk on (the physical floor/ground inside a room or outside).
  
  • El suelo está sucio. = The floor is dirty.
• Piso can mean:
  • apartment / flat
    
    • Vivo en un piso pequeño. = I live in a small flat.
  • storey / level of a building
    
    • Vivo en el tercer piso. = I live on the third floor.

So in Spain, if you want to say “the floor is dirty”, you normally say el suelo está sucio, not el piso está sucio.

Why is it está sucio and not es sucio?

Spanish uses estar and ser differently:

• estar is used for temporary states or conditions
• ser is used for inherent or permanent characteristics

Here, está sucio means “it is (currently) dirty” — a temporary condition. Eventually it can be cleaned, so estar is correct.

• El suelo está sucio. = The floor is dirty (now, at the moment).
• El suelo es sucio. would sound like “the floor is (by nature) a dirty thing,” which is very strange and not natural here.

Why is it sucio and not sucia? Doesn’t it change for gender?

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

• suelo is masculine singular → sucio (masculine singular)
  
  • el suelo sucio
• If the noun were feminine singular, you’d use sucia:
  
  • la mesa sucia = the dirty table
• Plural examples:
  
  • los suelos sucios (masculine plural)
  • las mesas sucias (feminine plural)

So here, sucio matches el suelo in gender (masculine) and number (singular).

Why is it después de cenar instead of después cenar?

When you use después followed by a verb in Spanish, you must include de and use the infinitive:

• después de + infinitive
  
  • después de cenar = after having dinner / after eating dinner
  • después de comer = after eating / after lunch
  • después de estudiar = after studying

Después cenar (without de) is incorrect in standard Spanish in this structure.

What’s the difference between después de cenar and después de la cena?

Both are correct, but they sound slightly different:

• después de cenar

  • Literally: after dining / after eating dinner
  • Focuses on the action of having dinner.
  • Very common and natural:
    
    • El suelo está sucio después de cenar.

• después de la cena

  • Literally: after the dinner
  • Focuses on the event / meal as a thing.
  • Also correct:
    
    • El suelo está sucio después de la cena.

In everyday speech, después de cenar is more typical and sounds more natural here.

Why is the subject el suelo at the beginning? Could I say Está sucio el suelo?

Both are possible, but the usual, neutral word order is:

• El suelo está sucio después de cenar.
  
  • Subject (el suelo) + verb (está) + complement (sucio, etc.)

You can say:

• Está sucio el suelo.

This is grammatically correct but sounds more emphatic or marked, like:
“It’s dirty, the floor (is).”

Native speakers do sometimes place the subject after the verb to add emphasis or in certain contexts, but for a standard statement, El suelo está sucio… is best.

Why isn’t there an article before cenar, like después de la cena = “after the dinner”?

Because cenar here is a verb in the infinitive form, not a noun:

• cenar = to have dinner / to dine (verb)
• la cena = the dinner (noun)

You only use articles (el, la, los, las) with nouns, not with verbs.
So:

• después de cenar = after having dinner (verb: to have dinner)
• después de la cena = after the dinner (noun: the dinner).

Could I say El piso está sucio después de cenar in Spain, and what would it mean?

Technically it’s grammatically correct, but in Spain:

• Most listeners would understand piso as apartment / flat.

So El piso está sucio después de cenar is more likely to be interpreted as:

• “The flat is dirty after dinner.”

If you want to talk specifically about the floor surface, use suelo:

• El suelo está sucio después de cenar.

Is cenar specifically “to have dinner,” or can it be any meal?

In Spain:

• desayunar = to have breakfast
• comer = to have lunch (often the main meal)
• cenar = to have dinner / evening meal

So cenar is specifically the evening meal, not any meal in general.

Is después de always followed by an infinitive when it’s with a verb?

Yes, when después de is followed by a verb, that verb must be in the infinitive:

• después de cenar = after having dinner
• después de estudiar = after studying
• después de trabajar = after working

If it’s followed by a noun or pronoun, that’s also fine:

• después de la cena = after the dinner
• después de eso = after that
• después de ti = after you

But with a verb, use the infinitive: después de + infinitive.