El petirrojo busca comida.

Because busca is the conjugated verb form that matches the subject el petirrojo.

• buscar = the infinitive, to look for / to search for
• busca = he/she/it looks for or is looking for

Here, el petirrojo is a third-person singular subject, so Spanish uses:

• yo busco = I look for
• tú buscas = you look for
• él/ella busca = he/she looks for

So El petirrojo busca comida literally matches The robin looks for food.

Because Spanish buscar already includes the idea of looking for.

In English, you say:

• look for food

But in Spanish, you simply say:

• buscar comida

So buscar does not need a separate preposition like for.

A very common learner mistake is:

• busca por comida ❌

In standard Spanish, that is not how buscar is normally used here. The correct version is:

• busca comida ✅

Spanish often uses the definite article with nouns where English may or may not use one.

Here, el means the, so:

• el petirrojo = the robin

The article helps identify the noun and is very natural in Spanish. Saying just Petirrojo busca comida would usually sound incomplete unless Petirrojo were being used as a name or title.

It usually means the robin, referring to a specific robin in context.

However, in Spanish, the definite article can also sometimes be used for a whole species or class in general. So depending on context, el petirrojo could also sound like the robin as a type of bird.

In this sentence by itself, most learners should understand it as:

• The robin is looking for food

If you wanted a robin, you would normally say:

• Un petirrojo busca comida = A robin is looking for food

Because comida here is being used in a general sense: food.

Spanish often leaves out the article when talking about an uncountable or non-specific thing after certain verbs. So:

• busca comida = looks for food

This sounds natural and general.

If you said:

• busca la comida

that would usually mean is looking for the food, referring to some specific food already known in the situation.

So the difference is:

• busca comida = looking for food in general
• busca la comida = looking for the food, a specific food/item/meal

Because the most neutral Spanish word order is:

• subject + verb + object

So here:

• El petirrojo = subject
• busca = verb
• comida = object

This is the same basic order as in English:

• The robin looks for food

Spanish word order is more flexible than English, but this version is the most straightforward and natural for a basic statement.

Yes. That would also be correct, but it means something slightly different in emphasis.

• busca comida = looks for food / is looking for food
• está buscando comida = is looking for food

The simple present in Spanish often covers both the English simple present and the English present continuous, depending on context.

So:

• El petirrojo busca comida is perfectly natural
• El petirrojo está buscando comida puts more focus on the action happening right now

In Spain Spanish, roughly:

• pe-ti-RRO-ho

A few useful pronunciation points:

• rro has a strong rolled rr
• j in rojo sounds like a strong throaty h
• the stress falls on rro: petiRROjo

A rough English-style approximation is:

• peh-tee-RRO-ho

But the Spanish sounds are cleaner and shorter than in English.

It can mean both, depending on context.

• comida = food
• la comida can also mean the meal, especially lunch in many contexts in Spain

In this sentence, though, busca comida clearly means is looking for food, not is looking for lunch.

So here it is best understood as the general substance food.

Petirrojo is a masculine noun, so it takes el.

• el petirrojo

This is grammatical gender, which does not necessarily tell you the biological sex of the animal. In other words, el petirrojo is the normal dictionary form for the bird name, even if you were talking about a female robin in real life.

This is common in Spanish: noun gender is a grammar feature, not always a statement about natural sex.

Often yes, but here it would usually stay in the sentence unless the context already made it clear.

Spanish frequently drops subject pronouns like él, ella, yo, because the verb ending already shows the person. But with a noun subject like el petirrojo, you normally include it when you want to say who is doing the action.

So:

• Busca comida = He/She/It is looking for food or Looks for food, depending on context
• El petirrojo busca comida = explicitly says that the robin is the one looking for food

Including el petirrojo makes the sentence clear and complete on its own.