Nosotras seguimos hablando de recetas mientras la sopa está en la mesa.

Nosotras is the feminine plural form of we. It is used when the group is made up only of women or girls.

• nosotras = we (all female)
• nosotros = we (mixed group or all male)

So this sentence tells us that the speakers are female.

You could absolutely leave out nosotras.

Spanish often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is:

• seguimos = we continue / we keep

So:

• Nosotras seguimos hablando...
• Seguimos hablando...

Both are correct.

Including nosotras adds emphasis, clarity, or contrast, for example if you want to stress we as opposed to someone else.

Seguir + gerund is a very common Spanish structure meaning to keep doing something or to continue doing something.

So:

• seguimos hablando = we keep talking / we continue talking

If you said just hablamos, that would usually mean we speak or we are talking, depending on context, but it would not clearly express the idea of continuing.

Examples:

• Sigo estudiando. = I keep studying.
• Seguimos esperando. = We continue waiting.

Hablando is the gerund form of hablar.

In Spanish, after seguir, you normally use a gerund to express an ongoing action:

• seguir + gerund

So:

• seguir hablando = to keep talking
• seguir comiendo = to keep eating
• seguir trabajando = to keep working

This is similar to English keep talking, keep eating, keep working.

The verb hablar often uses de to mean to talk about.

So:

• hablar de algo = to talk about something

Examples:

• Hablamos de música. = We talk about music.
• Hablan de política. = They are talking about politics.

That is why de recetas means about recipes.

Yes, sobre recetas is possible, but de recetas is more natural and more common with hablar.

Compare:

• hablar de recetas = the usual everyday way to say talk about recipes
• hablar sobre recetas = also possible, sometimes slightly more formal or more explicitly on the topic of recipes

For most learners, hablar de is the safest and most natural choice.

Here mientras means while.

It introduces an action or situation happening at the same time:

• seguimos hablando de recetas mientras la sopa está en la mesa
• we keep talking about recipes while the soup is on the table

It is followed by está because the sentence is describing a real, current situation, so Spanish uses the indicative.

Very generally:

• mientras + indicative = while something is actually happening
• mientras + subjunctive = less common in this kind of sentence, and usually linked to more hypothetical or future-oriented meanings in certain contexts

Here, está is just the normal present indicative.

Spanish uses estar for location.

So:

• La sopa está en la mesa. = The soup is on the table.

This is one of the basic uses of estar:

• location or position of people and things

By contrast, ser is not normally used for location, except for events:

• La reunión es en mi casa. = The meeting is at my house.

But for physical objects:

• El libro está en la mesa.
• La sopa está en la mesa.

In this sentence, en la mesa most naturally means on the table.

That is because the subject is la sopa, which is a thing physically located there.

So:

• La sopa está en la mesa. = The soup is on the table.

If you were talking about people, context would matter more:

• Estamos en la mesa could sometimes mean we are at the table

But with soup, the natural reading is physical location: on the table.

Spanish often uses definite articles more frequently than English.

Here:

• la sopa = the soup
• la mesa = the table

This sounds natural because the speaker probably has a specific soup and a specific table in mind.

English sometimes drops articles in places where Spanish keeps them, but in this sentence the definite articles are completely normal and expected.

The given word order is natural, but Spanish does allow some flexibility.

Standard version:

• Nosotras seguimos hablando de recetas mientras la sopa está en la mesa.

You could omit the subject:

• Seguimos hablando de recetas mientras la sopa está en la mesa.

You could also move parts around for emphasis, though not all versions sound equally natural in every context.

For example:

• Mientras la sopa está en la mesa, seguimos hablando de recetas.

That is grammatically fine, but it may sound a little more marked or literary depending on context.

So the original order is probably the most neutral and natural.

It is grammatical, but depending on context, it may sound a little unusual.

The part mientras la sopa está en la mesa is correct, but in everyday speech a Spaniard might more naturally say something like:

• ...mientras la sopa está en la mesa
• ...mientras la sopa está servida
• ...mientras comemos la sopa
• ...mientras la sopa sigue en la mesa

It depends on the exact meaning.

So the sentence is understandable and correct, but learners should know that native speakers might choose a slightly different phrasing depending on what they want to emphasize.

Both are in the present indicative.

• seguimos = present of seguir
• está = present of estar

Breakdown:

• seguir → yo sigo, tú sigues, él/ella sigue, nosotros/nosotras seguimos
• estar → yo estoy, tú estás, él/ella está, nosotros/nosotras estamos

So the sentence describes something happening in the present:

• we continue talking
• the soup is on the table