La madre sienta a la bebé en la trona antes de darle el biberón.

Because sentar and sentarse mean different things here.

• sentar a alguien = to seat someone, to make someone sit down
• sentarse = to sit down oneself

In this sentence, the mother is putting the baby into the high chair, so Spanish uses the transitive verb sentar:

• La madre sienta a la bebé... = The mother seats the baby...

If it were se sienta, the subject would be the one sitting down:

• La madre se sienta = The mother sits down

So sienta is correct because the mother is doing the action to the baby.

That is the personal a, which Spanish often uses before a specific human direct object.

Here, la bebé is the direct object of sienta because she is the person being seated.

• La madre sienta a la bebé

Compare:

• Veo a la niña = I see the girl
• Conozco a tu padre = I know your father

Even though la bebé already has the article la, Spanish still needs the personal a because she is a person.

Bebé can be masculine or feminine, depending on the baby’s sex or how the speaker chooses to refer to the child.

• el bebé = the baby boy / the baby
• la bebé = the baby girl

The noun itself does not change form; the article tells you the gender here.

So in this sentence, la bebé shows that the baby is female.

In Spain, trona usually means high chair for a baby.

So:

• en la trona = in the high chair

This is a good example of regional vocabulary. In other Spanish-speaking countries, people may use different words, such as:

• silla alta
• silla de comer para bebé
• other local variants

If you are learning Spanish from Spain, trona is a very natural word.

Because the idea is that the baby ends up in the high chair, not that she is moving toward it in the same way Spanish would express with a.

With furniture or places where someone ends up positioned, Spanish often uses en:

• sentar a alguien en una silla
• poner algo en la mesa
• acostar al bebé en la cuna

So en la trona means the baby is placed in/on the high chair, depending on how English would naturally phrase it.

Because after antes de, Spanish uses an infinitive when the subject stays general or is understood from context.

• antes de + infinitive = before doing something

So:

• antes de darle el biberón = before giving her the bottle

The structure is very common:

• antes de salir = before leaving
• antes de comer = before eating
• antes de acostarlo = before putting him to bed

If Spanish wanted to use a full clause with a different subject, it would use a different structure, for example:

• antes de que...

But here the infinitive is the normal choice.

Darle = to give to her / to give to him / to give to you (formal)

It is made of:

• dar = to give
• le = to her / to him / to you

In this sentence, le refers to la bebé.

So:

• antes de darle el biberón = before giving the baby the bottle

Even though English often says give her the bottle, Spanish expresses it with the indirect object pronoun le.

Because the baby is the indirect object, not the direct object.

In:

• darle el biberón

the thing being given is el biberón. That is the direct object.

The recipient is the baby, and that is the indirect object, so Spanish uses:

• le = to her / to him

Very common pattern:

• dar algo a alguien = to give something to someone

So here:

• dar el biberón a la bebé
• darle el biberón

Both mean the same thing.

Spanish often uses the article where English may or may not use one, especially with familiar everyday objects in context.

Here, darle el biberón is a very natural expression in Spain meaning to give the baby the bottle / feed the baby with a bottle.

It does not necessarily sound as specific as English the bottle always does. In context, it simply refers to the baby’s bottle.

This is one of those places where Spanish article usage does not always match English exactly.

Yes. Spanish often omits subject pronouns and even noun subjects when the context is clear.

So you could also hear:

• Sienta a la bebé en la trona antes de darle el biberón.

If everyone already knows we are talking about the mother, that sounds perfectly natural.

The full version with La madre is still fine. It may be used for clarity, emphasis, or because it appears in a written exercise.

Spanish often uses the present tense to describe:

• habitual actions
• instructions
• narration
• what is happening in a picture
• general descriptions of routines

So La madre sienta... can mean something like:

• The mother seats the baby...
• The mother is seating the baby...
• The mother usually seats the baby...

The exact interpretation depends on context. In textbooks, this kind of present tense is very common for describing scenes or routines.

The word order is quite normal:

• La madre = subject
• sienta = verb
• a la bebé = direct object
• en la trona = place
• antes de darle el biberón = time / sequence phrase

Spanish is flexible with word order, but this is a very standard, neutral arrangement.

You could sometimes change the order for emphasis, for example:

• Antes de darle el biberón, la madre sienta a la bebé en la trona.

That means the same thing, just with the time phrase placed first.

They have written accents because Spanish spelling rules require them.

• bebé has stress on the last syllable: be-BÉ
• biberón has stress on the last syllable: bi-be-RÓN

Without the accent marks, standard Spanish pronunciation rules would suggest different stress patterns.

So the accents help show the correct pronunciation.

Yes. In real usage, dar el biberón often means to feed a baby with a bottle, not just physically pass the bottle to the baby.

So depending on context:

• darle el biberón = give her the bottle
• or more naturally, give her a bottle / bottle-feed her

This is very common with childcare vocabulary, where the phrase refers to the whole feeding action rather than only the act of handing something over.