La mesa mide un metro.

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.

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.

Because uno changes to un before a masculine singular noun.

• un metro
• un libro
• un coche

You use uno when the number stands alone:

• ¿Cuántos metros? — Uno.

Since metro is a masculine noun, the correct form is un metro.

Yes. Mesa is a feminine noun, so it takes the feminine article la:

• la mesa
• una mesa

Many nouns ending in -a are feminine, and mesa is one of them.

By itself, it just means the table measures one metre. The exact dimension can depend on context.

If you want to be more specific, Spanish can add:

• La mesa mide un metro de largo = The table is one metre long
• La mesa mide un metro de ancho = The table is one metre wide
• La mesa mide un metro de alto = The table is one metre high

So the basic sentence is correct, but context tells you which measurement is meant.

Because after medir, the measurement usually comes directly:

• mide un metro
• mide dos metros
• mide 1,5 metros

You add de only when you specify the type of dimension:

• un metro de largo
• dos metros de ancho

So La mesa mide un metro is already complete without de.

It might be understood in some contexts, but it is not the standard or most natural way to express dimensions.

The best verb here is medir:

• La mesa mide un metro ✅

Using tener sounds less precise or can feel unnatural for measurements.

In Spain, mide is pronounced approximately:

• MEE-deh

More accurately, the d between vowels is softer than the English d. It sounds something like:

• /ˈmi.ðe/

And the full sentence:

• La mesa mide un metro
• roughly: lah MEH-sah MEE-theh oon MEH-tro in much of Spain

In most of Spain, the d in mide is soft, and metro has a tapped Spanish r.

Yes. Since the quantity is one, the noun stays singular:

• un metro

If the number is more than one, it becomes plural:

• dos metros
• tres metros
• veinte metros

So:

• La mesa mide un metro
• La mesa mide dos metros

The normal and most natural order is:

• La mesa mide un metro

Spanish can sometimes change word order for emphasis, but beginners should stick to the standard pattern:

• subject + verb + measurement

That is the clearest and most idiomatic way to say it.

It is the present simple (also called the present indicative).

From the verb medir, the present forms are:

• yo mido
• tú mides
• él/ella mide
• nosotros medimos
• vosotros medís
• ellos/ellas miden

So in La mesa mide un metro, the subject is la mesa, which is third-person singular, so the verb form is mide.

No. Medir is an irregular stem-changing verb.

In many present-tense forms, the e changes to i:

• mido
• mides
• mide
• miden

But not in nosotros and vosotros:

• medimos
• medís

That is why the sentence has mide, not mede.