Las moras de esta mañana estaban muy dulces.

This morning’s blackberries were very sweet.

Breakdown of Las moras de esta mañana estaban muy dulces.

• la mañana: the morning
• muy: very
• estar: to be
• de: of

Questions & Answers about Las moras de esta mañana estaban muy dulces.

Why does the sentence start with las?

Las is the plural definite article, meaning the.

• la mora = the blackberry / the mulberry
• las moras = the blackberries / the mulberries

Spanish usually uses articles more often than English does, so las moras sounds completely natural here.

What exactly does moras mean?

Moras is the plural of mora.

In Spain, mora commonly means blackberry. In some contexts it can also mean mulberry, so the exact fruit depends on context. If the meaning has already been given to the learner, the main thing to remember is that it is a feminine noun:

• la mora
• las moras

What does de esta mañana mean literally?

Literally, de esta mañana means of this morning.

In natural English, that often becomes:

• from this morning
• this morning’s

So Las moras de esta mañana is basically the blackberries from this morning or this morning’s blackberries.

This is a very common Spanish way to connect a noun with a time expression:

• la reunión de esta tarde = this afternoon’s meeting
• el partido de anoche = last night’s match