Learn Spanish (Latin America): El mesero sirve estas ensaladas.

El mesero sirve estas ensaladas.

The waiter serves these salads.

Breakdown of El mesero sirve estas ensaladas.

to serve / to work / be suitable

estas

these (feminine)

Questions & Answers about El mesero sirve estas ensaladas.

Why is it estas here instead of estos?

Estas means "these" for feminine plural nouns. Because ensaladas (salads) is feminine and plural, we must use estas. If the waiter were serving something masculine and plural, like tacos, you would use estos.

Wait, doesn't estás mean "you are"? Why does it mean "these" here?

Notice the spelling! Estás (with an accent mark on the 'a') is the verb meaning "you are". Estas (no accent mark) is the adjective meaning "these". Paying attention to written accents is very important in Spanish to tell these two common words apart.

I learned the verb to serve is servir. Why is it spelled sirve here instead of "serve"?

Servir is what's called a stem-changing verb. When you conjugate it for he/she/it (in this case, el mesero), the e in the stem changes to an i. That's why it becomes sirve.

I've also seen the word camarero used for waiter. Are they the same?

Yes, they mean exactly the same thing! Mesero is the most common word for a waiter in much of Latin America, while camarero is the word you will hear most often in Spain.