Pon una cucharadita de canela en el yogur natural.

Pon is the informal singular command form of poner (to put).

So if you are telling one person you know well what to do, Spanish uses:

• pon = put

Examples:

• Pon azúcar en el café.
• Pon una cucharadita de canela en el yogur natural.

Compare:

• poner = the infinitive, to put
• pone = he/she puts or you put (usted, formal)
• pon = put! (command to tú)

This is an irregular command, so it does not follow the most basic pattern.

It is addressed to tú, meaning one person in an informal situation.

In Spain, this is the normal form for speaking casually to:

• a friend
• a family member
• a child
• someone you know well

If you wanted the formal singular command, you would say:

• Ponga una cucharadita de canela en el yogur natural.

If you wanted to address more than one person in Spain:

• Poned una cucharadita de canela en el yogur natural. (vosotros)
• Pongan una cucharadita... (formal plural, or common in Latin America)

Cucharadita is the diminutive form of cucharada / cuchara-related measure language, and here it means a small spoonful, usually a teaspoon.

So:

• cucharadita = teaspoon / small spoonful

In cooking, this often works like a unit of measure, not necessarily an emotional diminutive.

Compare:

• una cucharada = a tablespoon
• una cucharadita = a teaspoon

The -ita ending often suggests something smaller.

In Spanish, after quantities and measures, you usually use de + noun without the definite article when speaking generally about an ingredient.

So:

• una cucharadita de canela
• un vaso de agua
• una taza de café

This is very natural in Spanish when you mean some cinnamon, not the cinnamon in a specific contrastive sense.

You would only use la if you were referring to a particular cinnamon already identified in context, but that is not the normal wording here.

Because en is the normal preposition for putting something in/into a food container or mixture.

• poner algo en algo = to put something in something

So:

• Pon canela en el yogur.
• Pon azúcar en el té.

Spanish often uses en where English might say in or sometimes into.

Al usually means to the and would not sound right here for this kind of recipe instruction.

The noun yogur is normally masculine in standard Spanish, so:

• el yogur
• un yogur

Gender in Spanish is something you usually have to learn with the noun. There is not always a perfect rule based only on the ending.

Also, in Spain you may see both spellings:

• yogur
• yոգurt / yogurt

But yogur is very common and standard.

Here yogur natural usually means plain yogurt.

In food Spanish, natural often means:

• plain
• unflavoured
• without added flavouring like strawberry, vanilla, etc.

So in this sentence, yogur natural is best understood as:

• plain yogurt

It does not necessarily mean organic or all-natural in the marketing sense English speakers may think of first.

In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• yogur natural
• café caliente
• pan integral

That is the normal position.

Sometimes adjectives can go before the noun, but that often changes the tone, emphasis, or meaning. In this sentence, yogur natural is the standard and expected order.

In recipes, una cucharadita usually means the cooking measure one teaspoon.

In everyday speech, it can also mean a small spoonful more loosely.

So the exact meaning depends on context:

• in a recipe: usually a fairly specific measure
• in casual conversation: possibly approximate

In this sentence, it sounds very much like a recipe or food instruction, so teaspoon is the most natural interpretation.

Yes. Añade is also very common in recipes and instructions.

Compare:

• Pon una cucharadita de canela en el yogur natural.
• Añade una cucharadita de canela al yogur natural.

Both are natural, but they feel slightly different:

• pon = put
• añade = add

In cooking instructions, añadir is extremely common.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

pon OO-na koo-cha-ra-DEE-ta de ka-NE-la en el yo-GOOR na-too-RAL

A few useful notes:

• pon sounds like pone without the final -e
• c before a in canela sounds like a hard k
• g in yogur is a hard g
• the stress is:
  • cuchadita
  • canela
  • natural

In much of Spain, y at the start of yogur sounds like the English y in yes.

Normally, no. You need the article here:

• Pon una cucharadita de canela...

That is because you are counting one teaspoon as a unit.

Without una, the phrase sounds incomplete and ungrammatical in standard Spanish.

Compare:

• una cucharadita de canela = one teaspoon of cinnamon
• canela by itself = cinnamon, in general

Yes, very much so. It is short, direct, and uses the informal imperative, which is common in:

• recipes written in a friendly style
• spoken instructions
• health or food tips
• social media cooking content

A more impersonal recipe style might also use:

• Añadir una cucharadita de canela...
• Se añade una cucharadita de canela...

But Pon... sounds perfectly natural and everyday in Spain.