La mesa mide un metro.

The table measures one metre.

Breakdown of La mesa mide un metro.

• la mesa: the table
• un: one
• medir: to measure
• el metro: the metre

Questions & Answers about La mesa mide un metro.

Why is mide used here?

Mide is the third-person singular present tense of medir (to measure).

So La mesa mide un metro literally follows the Spanish pattern:

• subject + medir + measurement

Examples:

• La mesa mide un metro.
• La habitación mide cuatro metros.
• El niño mide 1,80.

Spanish very commonly uses medir to talk about size, height, length, or dimensions.

Why doesn’t Spanish say something more like The table is one metre?

Because Spanish usually expresses dimensions with medir, not with ser.

So:

• La mesa mide un metro = natural Spanish
• La mesa es un metro = incorrect in this meaning

A native English speaker may want to translate word-for-word from English, but in Spanish the normal structure is something measures X.

Why is it un metro and not uno metro?