Breakdown of Tan pronto como el repartidor traiga la comida, se la voy a servir a ustedes.
ustedes
you (plural)
ir
to go
a
to
la comida
the food
pronto
soon
servir
to serve / to work / be suitable
traer
to bring
la
it / her (direct object)
tan
as / so
como
as / like (such as, similar to)
se
to him / to her / to them / to you (formal)
el repartidor
the delivery person
Questions & Answers about Tan pronto como el repartidor traiga la comida, se la voy a servir a ustedes.
Why is traiga in the subjunctive here?
The phrase tan pronto como (as soon as) introduces a time clause. Because the action of bringing the food hasn't happened yet and is anticipated in the future, Spanish requires the present subjunctive, traiga. If this were a routine happening in the present (like 'Every time he brings the food'), you would use the indicative form, trae.
Why does the sentence use se la instead of les la?
The food (la comida) is a feminine singular direct object, so we use la. The indirect object 'to you all' is les. However, in Spanish, you cannot put le or les directly in front of lo, la, los, or las. The indirect object les automatically changes to se to avoid an awkward sound, resulting in se la.
Could I attach se la to the end of servir instead?
Yes! When you have an infinitive verb like servir, you have the option to attach object pronouns directly to the end of it. You could say voy a servírsela a ustedes. Just note that when you do this, you must add an accent mark over the i to maintain the natural pronunciation and stress of the original verb servir.
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