Mi abuela prefiere la espumadera al cucharón cuando hace sopa.

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Breakdown of Mi abuela prefiere la espumadera al cucharón cuando hace sopa.

• hacer: to make
• cuando: when
• al: to the

Questions & Answers about Mi abuela prefiere la espumadera al cucharón cuando hace sopa.

Why is it prefiere and not prefera or prefería?

Prefiere is the 3rd person singular present tense of preferir: (ella) prefiere = she prefers.

This verb is a stem-changing verb in the present tense:

• yo prefiero
• tú prefieres
• él/ella prefiere
• nosotros preferimos
• vosotros preferís
• ellos prefieren

So mi abuela prefiere means my grandmother prefers.

• prefera is not a correct form here.
• prefería means used to prefer / was preferring, which would change the meaning.

Why does preferir use a here: prefiere la espumadera al cucharón?

In Spanish, when you say that someone prefers one thing to another, the usual pattern is:

preferir + thing preferred + a + thing not preferred

So:

• prefiere la espumadera al cucharón = she prefers the skimmer/slotted spoon to the ladle

Here, al is just a + el:

• a el → al

This is very common:

• Prefiero el té al café.
• Prefieren caminar al conducir.

What exactly is al?