Cuando la freidora está caliente, mi padre usa la espátula para sacar las patatas y luego añade otra cucharada de aceite a la ensalada.

Spanish usually uses estar for temporary states or conditions, and ser for more permanent characteristics.

So:

• la freidora está caliente = the fryer is hot right now / has become hot
• la freidora es caliente would sound unnatural here

With objects, estar caliente is the normal way to say they are hot. This is about the fryer’s current condition, not its essential nature.

Because this sentence describes a habitual action or a routine.

• Cuando la freidora está caliente, mi padre usa... = Whenever the fryer is hot, my father uses...

Spanish often uses the present tense for repeated actions like this, just as English can use when + present for routines.

A useful contrast:

• Cuando la freidora está caliente, mi padre usa...
  = habitual / general truth
• Cuando la freidora esté caliente, mi padre usará...
  = future situation

So in your sentence, the present tense shows something that happens regularly.

Because Spanish normally does not use subject pronouns unless they are needed for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Here, the subject is already clearly stated as mi padre, so adding él would usually be unnecessary:

• Mi padre usa... = normal
• Mi padre él usa... = generally not natural in standard Spanish

Spanish verb endings already help identify the subject, and when the noun is present, that is enough.

Para + infinitive is a very common way to express purpose in Spanish.

So:

• usa la espátula para sacar las patatas = he uses the spatula to take out the potatoes

After a preposition like para, Spanish uses the infinitive:

• para comer = to eat
• para cocinar = to cook
• para sacar = to take out / remove

You would not use a conjugated verb there.

Here sacar means to take out or to remove.

So:

• sacar las patatas = to take the potatoes out

In this cooking context, it means removing the potatoes from the fryer.

Sacar is a very common everyday verb with a broad meaning:

• sacar dinero = to take out money
• sacar la basura = to take out the rubbish
• sacar las patatas de la freidora = to take the potatoes out of the fryer

Añade is the third-person singular present of añadir.

The subject is mi padre, so the verb must be third-person singular:

• yo añado
• tú añades
• él / ella / usted añade

So:

• mi padre añade = my father adds

Also, notice the letter ñ. It is pronounced like the ny sound in canyon.

There are two useful things happening here.

1. Agreement with the noun

• cucharada is feminine
• so it takes otra, not otro

That is why it is:

• otra cucharada

2. Measure expression with de In Spanish, when you give a quantity or measure, you normally use:

• una cucharada de aceite = a spoonful of oil
• un vaso de agua = a glass of water
• un kilo de patatas = a kilo of potatoes

So otra cucharada de aceite means another spoonful of oil.

Because añadir normally follows the pattern:

• añadir algo a algo = to add something to something

So in your sentence:

• otra cucharada de aceite = the thing being added
• a la ensalada = what it is being added to

That is why a is the normal preposition here.

• añadir aceite a la ensalada = to add oil to the salad

Using en is less natural with añadir in this structure.

Here luego means then or afterwards.

So:

• ...y luego añade... = ...and then he adds...

In many cases, luego and después are very similar:

• luego añade aceite
• después añade aceite

Both can work.

A small nuance:

• luego often sounds like then/next
• después often sounds like afterwards/later

But in everyday Spanish, especially in this kind of sequence, they are often interchangeable.

Because this sentence is in Spanish from Spain, where patatas is the usual word for potatoes.

In many Latin American countries, people often say papas instead.

So:

• Spain: patatas
• much of Latin America: papas

Both are correct Spanish, but patatas is the expected choice for Spain.

Here it means a specific batch of potatoes: the ones being cooked in the fryer.

That is why the sentence uses the definite article:

• las patatas = the potatoes

Spanish often uses the definite article when talking about specific things already understood from the context.

By contrast, aceite appears without an article in otra cucharada de aceite because it is part of a measure phrase and refers to oil as a substance, not a specific individual item.

Usually, yes. In Spain, freidora normally refers to a fryer, especially a deep fryer.

If someone wants to be specific about an air fryer, they often say:

• freidora de aire = air fryer

So on its own, la freidora will usually be understood as a regular fryer containing hot oil.

Yes, espátula is a normal word for spatula.

It is feminine, so it takes la:

• la espátula

In kitchen contexts, Spanish can also use other utensil words depending on the exact tool, such as paleta or rasera, but espátula is a very understandable general word.

So for a learner, la espátula is a perfectly good choice.