A la sopa le echo una hoja de laurel y un poco de tomillo.

Yes, they both point to the same thing: la sopa is the indirect object, and le repeats it.

This is very common in Spanish and is called indirect object doubling.

• A la sopa = to the soup
• le = to it

So the sentence literally works like:

• To the soup, I add to it a bay leaf and a little thyme.

That sounds repetitive in English, but in Spanish it is normal. In this sentence, the doubling is especially natural because A la sopa has been moved to the front.

Le refers to la sopa.

In other words:

• A la sopa = the soup
• le echo = I add to it

So le is an indirect object pronoun meaning to it here.

Because the thing being added is not the soup. The things being added are:

• una hoja de laurel
• un poco de tomillo

Those are the direct objects of echo.

The soup is the thing that receives them, so it is the indirect object.

A rough breakdown is:

• Subject: implied yo
• Verb: echo
• Indirect object: a la sopa / le
• Direct object: una hoja de laurel y un poco de tomillo

Yes. Echo is the 1st person singular present of echar:

• yo echo = I add / I put in / I throw in

In cooking, echar often means to add or to put in, not literally to throw.

So here le echo means something like:

• I add
• I put in
• I throw in

In a recipe or casual cooking explanation, echar is very natural.

You could say añado. Both are possible, but they feel slightly different.

• echo = very common, everyday, natural in speech
• añado = a bit more neutral or slightly more formal/technical

So:

• A la sopa le echo... = very natural conversational Spanish
• A la sopa le añado... = also correct, a bit more deliberate

In Spain, echar is extremely common in cooking contexts.

Because Spanish often moves information to the front for topic or emphasis.

Starting with A la sopa highlights what you are talking about:

• As for the soup, I add...
• To the soup, I add...

A more neutral order would be:

• Echo una hoja de laurel y un poco de tomillo a la sopa.

Both are correct, but the original sentence puts the soup first as the topic.

Yes, absolutely.

That version is more straightforward in word order:

• Echo una hoja de laurel y un poco de tomillo a la sopa.

The original sentence:

• A la sopa le echo una hoja de laurel y un poco de tomillo.

sounds a bit more topicalized, as if you are explaining what you do to the soup specifically.

Both are natural. When the indirect object is fronted, the pronoun le is especially expected.

Because in cooking, the usual way to say bay leaf is hoja de laurel.

• hoja = leaf
• laurel = bay/laurel

So:

• una hoja de laurel = a bay leaf

If you said just laurel, you would be talking more generally about the plant or the seasoning, not specifically one leaf.

Here de means something like of or from and connects the noun to the type of leaf.

• hoja de laurel = leaf of bay / bay leaf
• un poco de tomillo = a little of thyme / a little thyme

This de is very common in Spanish for naming materials, types, or contents.

Because un poco de is a quantity expression, and after it Spanish often uses the noun without an article.

• un poco de tomillo = a little thyme
• un poco de azúcar = a little sugar
• un poco de sal = a little salt

Using de + noun after a quantity phrase is the normal pattern.

No, not in this sentence. Here tomillo is being treated as an uncountable ingredient, like thyme in English.

So Spanish uses:

• un poco de tomillo = a little thyme

If you were talking about separate sprigs or stems, you would use different wording, for example:

• unas ramas de tomillo = some sprigs of thyme

Echo is the present tense.

Depending on context, Spanish present tense can mean:

• I add
• I’m adding
• I usually add

In a cooking explanation, it often sounds like a habitual or procedural present:

• I add a bay leaf and a little thyme.

So it can describe a normal step in a recipe or what the speaker typically does.

Yes. The subject yo is omitted because Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb already makes the person clear.

• echo already tells you it is I

So:

• (Yo) echo = I add

Including yo would usually add emphasis, but it is not necessary.

Because the two nouns have different genders:

• hoja is feminine → una hoja
• poco is masculine → un poco

Notice that un poco de tomillo does not mean tomillo is masculine because of un. The un agrees with poco, not with tomillo.

Yes. Le is singular here because it refers to la sopa, which is singular.

If it were plural, you would normally use:

• A las sopas les echo... = I add ... to the soups

So:

• singular indirect object → le
• plural indirect object → les

When echar means to add/put something into something, the receiver is commonly introduced with a.

For example:

• Echo sal a la sopa.
• Le echo sal a la sopa.

Here a la sopa marks the thing that receives the salt.

So in your sentence, a la sopa is exactly the normal pattern.

Yes. It sounds very natural in Spain.

A speaker in Spain would very naturally say:

• A la sopa le echo...
• Le echo... a la sopa
• Echo... a la sopa

Using echar in cooking is especially common and everyday. So the sentence feels very idiomatic, not textbookish.