Mi madre añade una cucharada de aceite y una cucharadita de miel a la salsa.

In modern Spanish, possessive adjectives like mi, tu, su, nuestro usually replace the article, so you say:

• mi madre = my mother
• tu casa = your house

You would not normally say la mi madre in standard modern Spanish.

Añade is the third person singular, present tense of the verb añadir (to add).

So:

• yo añado = I add
• tú añades = you add
• él / ella añade = he / she adds

Because the subject is mi madre, the verb is añade.

The letter ñ is a separate letter in Spanish. It is pronounced like the ny sound in canyon (approximately).

So añade sounds roughly like:

• ah-NYA-de

In Spain Spanish, this sound is very clear and distinct from plain n.

Yes. The Spanish present tense often covers both meanings:

• Mi madre añade... = My mother adds...
• Mi madre añade... = My mother is adding...

Context tells you which one is meant. In a recipe or cooking description, either reading can work depending on the situation.

They are different amounts:

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

The ending -ita is a diminutive, often meaning small. So cucharadita literally suggests a small spoonful, and in cooking it commonly means teaspoon.

In Spanish, when you talk about a quantity or measure, you usually use:

quantity + de + noun

Examples:

• un vaso de agua = a glass of water
• un kilo de arroz = a kilo of rice
• una cucharada de aceite = a tablespoon of oil

So de is the normal way to link the measure to the substance.

After a measure expression, Spanish often leaves out the article when speaking generally about the substance:

• una cucharada de aceite
• una cucharadita de miel

This is the normal pattern in recipes and general descriptions.

You would usually only add an article if you were referring to a very specific oil or honey already identified in context.

Because with añadir, Spanish normally uses the pattern:

añadir algo a algo

= to add something to something

So here:

• añade una cucharada de aceite y una cucharadita de miel a la salsa
• she adds a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoon of honey to the sauce

Also, a + la stays a la.

No. This is not the personal a.

Here, a is just the normal preposition meaning to after añadir:

• añadir azúcar al café = to add sugar to the coffee
• añadir sal a la sopa = to add salt to the soup

The personal a is used before certain human direct objects, which is a different rule.

Because the noun salsa is feminine in Spanish, so it takes:

• la salsa

Most nouns ending in -a are feminine, and salsa follows that common pattern.

Normally, y means and.

Spanish changes y to e only before words that begin with an i sound:

• padre e hijo
• España e Italia

But una cucharadita begins with a k sound, not an i sound, so it stays:

• aceite y una cucharadita de miel

Spanish word order is flexible, but this sentence is very natural as written. It presents:

1. the subject: Mi madre
2. the verb: añade
3. what is being added: una cucharada de aceite y una cucharadita de miel
4. where it is added: a la salsa

That order is common and sounds smooth, especially in instructions or descriptions.

You could also hear:

• Mi madre añade a la salsa una cucharada de aceite y una cucharadita de miel

That is grammatical too, but the original version is probably the most neutral and natural.

Because una belongs to the measure words:

• una cucharada
• una cucharadita

The nouns aceite and miel are not being counted directly. They are part of the measure phrase:

• a tablespoon of oil
• a teaspoon of honey

So the article goes with cucharada and cucharadita, not with aceite or miel.

• aceite is masculine: el aceite
• miel is usually feminine: la miel

In this sentence, you do not see the articles because they come after de in a measure phrase:

• una cucharada de aceite
• una cucharadita de miel

But if you used them alone, you would normally say el aceite and la miel.

Yes, very much. It sounds natural in a cooking context.

Spanish recipes often use structures like:

• añadir sal a la sopa
• echar aceite a la sartén
• poner azúcar en la mezcla

So this sentence fits typical kitchen or recipe language very well.