Mi padre sigue sin entender por qué el pollo no queda crujiente si el horno está tan caliente.

Sigue sin entender means he still doesn’t understand or more literally he continues without understanding.

It is built like this:

• seguir = to continue
• sin = without
• entender = to understand

So seguir sin + infinitive is a very common pattern in Spanish for saying that someone still hasn’t done something.

Examples:

• Sigue sin llegar = He still hasn’t arrived.
• Sigo sin saber la respuesta = I still don’t know the answer.

It is stronger and more expressive than just no entiende, because it emphasizes that this lack of understanding is continuing.

Because this is an indirect question: why the chicken doesn’t turn out crispy.

Spanish has several similar-looking forms:

• por qué = why
• porque = because
• el porqué = the reason
• por que = a less common combination used in specific structures

In this sentence, entender por qué... means to understand why..., so por qué is the correct form.

Because the whole sentence is a statement, not a direct question.

The part por qué el pollo no queda crujiente... is an embedded question inside the larger sentence.

Compare:

• ¿Por qué el pollo no queda crujiente? = direct question
• Mi padre sigue sin entender por qué el pollo no queda crujiente. = statement containing an indirect question

Indirect questions in Spanish use por qué, but they do not take question marks.

Here quedar means something like to turn out, to come out, or to end up being.

So el pollo no queda crujiente means the chicken doesn’t come out crispy.

This is a very common use of quedar when talking about results, especially in cooking:

• La tortilla quedó muy buena = The omelette turned out very good.
• El pan no quedó bien = The bread didn’t turn out well.

So this is not just saying the chicken isn’t crispy; it is saying that after cooking, it doesn’t end up crispy.

Because crujiente is an adjective that has the same form for masculine and feminine singular.

So you get:

• el pollo crujiente
• la piel crujiente

The plural is crujientes:

• los bordes crujientes
• las patatas crujientes

Many Spanish adjectives ending in -e work like this.

Here si means if.

It has no accent because it is the conjunction if.

Compare:

• si = if
• sí = yes

So in this sentence:

• si el horno está tan caliente = if the oven is so hot

That is completely different from sí, which would mean yes.

Tan means so, while muy means very.

In this sentence, tan caliente sounds more natural because it suggests a contrast or expected result:

• if the oven is so hot, why isn’t the chicken crispy?

That kind of logic often uses tan in Spanish.

Compare:

• muy caliente = very hot
• tan caliente = so hot

You could say muy caliente in some contexts, but tan caliente fits better here because the speaker is connecting the oven’s heat to the expected result.

Because hot here is a state or condition, not a permanent characteristic.

Spanish normally uses estar for things like:

• temperature
• condition
• temporary state

So:

• El horno está caliente = The oven is hot

Using ser here would sound wrong, because the sentence is talking about the oven’s temperature at that moment.

Spanish often uses the definite article el/la/los/las where English might use the, a, or sometimes no article at all.

Here el pollo and el horno refer to the chicken and the oven involved in the situation, so the definite article sounds natural.

In cooking, Spanish frequently uses the article with ingredients or objects being discussed:

• El arroz necesita más agua
• La carne está lista
• El horno ya está caliente

So even if English might sometimes say just chicken in a general way, Spanish often says el pollo.

Because in standard Spanish, no normally goes directly before the conjugated verb.

So:

• el pollo no queda crujiente

That is the normal word order for negation.

You would not say:

• el pollo queda no crujiente

Spanish negation is usually very straightforward:

• No entiendo
• No quiere venir
• El horno no funciona

So here, no correctly goes before queda.

In most of Spain, pollo is pronounced roughly like POH-yo.

A few details:

• ll is usually pronounced like the y in yes for most speakers
• o is a clear pure vowel, not a diphthong like in many English accents
• the stress is on the first syllable: PO-llo

So a simple English-friendly guide would be:

POH-yo

Some speakers in some regions pronounce ll differently, but POH-yo is the safest pronunciation for most learners.