Breakdown of El pollo está redelicioso. Se lo recomiendo.
estar
to be (location/state)
el pollo
chicken
lo
it / him (direct object)
se
to him / to her / to them / to you (formal)
recomendar
to recommend
delicioso
delicious
Questions & Answers about El pollo está redelicioso. Se lo recomiendo.
What does the re- part of redelicioso do here?
In colloquial Latin American Spanish, adding the prefix re- to an adjective makes it an absolute superlative, meaning it translates to extremely or super. It means the same thing as muy delicioso but sounds much more natural and expressive in casual conversation. Notice it is written together as one single word.
Why do we use está here instead of es? Isn't being delicious a characteristic of the meal?
When talking about food, estar is used to describe the taste or condition of a specific dish you are eating right now. If you said El pollo es delicioso, you would mean that chicken as a general category of food is delicious. Using está redelicioso compliments this specific serving in front of you.
Where does the se come from in Se lo recomiendo?
The phrase means I recommend it to you. The lo refers to the chicken (it), and the se stands in for to you. Usually, to you (formal) would be the indirect object pronoun le. However, Spanish has a rule: when le appears right before lo, la, los, or las, it changes to se to avoid the awkward le lo sound.
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