Mi abuela prefiere el romero al tomillo, pero siempre quita el laurel antes de servir.

My grandmother prefers rosemary to thyme, but she always removes the bay leaf before serving.

Breakdown of Mi abuela prefiere el romero al tomillo, pero siempre quita el laurel antes de servir.

• mi: my
• siempre: always
• pero: but
• al: to the

Questions & Answers about Mi abuela prefiere el romero al tomillo, pero siempre quita el laurel antes de servir.

Why do the herbs have el in el romero, el tomillo, and el laurel?

In Spanish, it is very common to use the definite article with ingredients, foods, and substances when speaking in a general way. So el romero means rosemary, el tomillo means thyme, and el laurel means bay / bay leaf as ingredients. English often leaves the article out here, but Spanish usually keeps it.

Why is it al tomillo and not just a el tomillo?

Because a + el contracts to al. This is a standard rule in Spanish.

So:

• a el tomillo → al tomillo

Also, the verb preferir normally uses the pattern preferir X a Y = to prefer X to Y. That is why the sentence says prefiere el romero al tomillo.

Why does preferir use a here? I thought a usually meant to.

With preferir, Spanish compares one thing to another using a:

• Prefiero el café al té = I prefer coffee to tea
• Prefiere el romero al tomillo = She prefers rosemary to thyme

So here a is part of the normal grammar of preferir when you say what is preferred over something else.