Word
Cuando la salsa está muy caliente, espero un minuto antes de probarla.
Meaning
When the sauce is very hot, I wait a minute before trying it.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Cuando la salsa está muy caliente, espero un minuto antes de probarla.
yo
I
un
a
muy
very
estar
to be
Questions & Answers about Cuando la salsa está muy caliente, espero un minuto antes de probarla.
Why is it cuando and not si?
Cuando means when, so it introduces something that is expected to happen:
You would use si for if:
- Si la salsa está muy caliente, espero un minuto... = If the sauce is very hot, I wait a minute...
Both can be possible in some contexts, but cuando sounds more like a usual or repeated situation: whenever that happens, this is what I do.
Why is it está and not es?
Spanish uses estar for temporary states or conditions, and ser for more permanent characteristics or identity.
Here, hot is a temporary condition of the sauce, so Spanish uses estar:
Compare:
- La sopa está fría = The soup is cold right now
- Madrid es grande = Madrid is big
So está muy caliente refers to how the sauce is at that moment.
What does caliente mean here? Does it mean hot or spicy?