La costilla está jugosa.

Because costilla is a feminine noun in Spanish, so it takes the feminine singular article la.

• la costilla = the rib / the chop / the spare rib
• Feminine singular nouns usually take la
• Masculine singular nouns usually take el

The ending -a often suggests a noun is feminine, and here that pattern fits.

Spanish often uses estar for a state or condition, especially when describing how food is at the moment.

So:

• La costilla está jugosa = The rib is juicy
• This focuses on its current texture or condition

If you said es jugosa, it would sound more like a more general or defining characteristic, which is less natural in this context. With food, estar is very common for things like:

• está rico/a = it tastes good
• está frío/a = it is cold
• está seco/a = it is dry
• está jugoso/a = it is juicy

Because adjectives in Spanish usually agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

Here:

• costilla is feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular: jugosa

Compare:

• el pollo está jugoso = the chicken is juicy
• la costilla está jugosa = the rib is juicy
• las costillas están jugosas = the ribs are juicy

It comes from the adjective jugoso / jugosa, which means juicy.

It is formed from jugo meaning juice, plus the adjective ending:

• jugoso = juicy (masculine)
• jugosa = juicy (feminine)

This is a very common adjective for food.

In Spanish, descriptive adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

• la costilla jugosa = the juicy rib

And in your sentence:

• La costilla está jugosa = The rib is juicy

That structure is very normal in Spanish. English often puts the adjective before the noun, but Spanish usually puts it after when the adjective directly describes the noun.

Yes. Costilla can mean rib in the anatomical sense, but in food contexts it can refer to a rib cut of meat, such as a pork rib, beef rib, or similar cut.

The exact English translation depends on context:

• body part: rib
• food: rib, spare rib, sometimes cutlet/chop depending on context

So if you saw this in a restaurant or cooking context, it is clearly talking about the meat.

The plural is:

Las costillas están jugosas.

Changes:

• la → las
• costilla → costillas
• está → están
• jugosa → jugosas

Everything has to agree with the new plural subject.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

cos-TEE-ya or cos-TEE-lya, depending on accent

A few notes:

• The stress is on -ti-: cos-TI-lla
• In much of Spain, ll is pronounced like y
• In some speakers or regions, it may sound a bit more like ly

So a common Spain pronunciation is close to:

kos-TEE-ya

The accent mark shows the correct stress and also helps distinguish it from esta.

• está = is
• esta = this (feminine)

Examples:

• La costilla está jugosa. = The rib is juicy.
• Esta costilla está jugosa. = This rib is juicy.

So the accent is important.

Normally, no. In a full sentence like this, you would usually need the article:

• La costilla está jugosa.

Leaving it out sounds incomplete or unnatural in standard Spanish.

Spanish uses articles more often than English in many cases, especially with countable nouns in ordinary statements.

Yes, absolutely. That means The rib is very juicy.

Muy is the normal word for very before an adjective:

• jugosa = juicy
• muy jugosa = very juicy

Other common intensifiers are:

• bastante jugosa = quite juicy
• bien jugosa = nicely/really juicy
• demasiado jugosa = too juicy

Mostly, learners first meet it with food, where it very commonly means juicy. But it can also be used more figuratively.

For example, something like:

• una oferta jugosa = a very attractive offer
• un contrato jugoso = a lucrative contract

So it can mean not just literally juicy, but also tempting, rich, or lucrative, depending on context.

It is:

article + noun + verb + adjective

More specifically:

• La = definite article, feminine singular
• costilla = noun, feminine singular
• está = 3rd person singular of estar
• jugosa = adjective, feminine singular

So the full structure is:

subject + estar + adjective

This is a very common pattern in Spanish:

• La sopa está caliente.
• El pescado está fresco.
• La carne está tierna.

Your sentence follows exactly the same pattern.