Breakdown of No se lo sirvan hasta que la corteza esté lista.
no
no, not
estar
to be (location/state)
listo
ready
servir
to serve / to work / be suitable
que
that / than
lo
it / him (direct object)
se
to him / to her / to them / to you (formal)
hasta
until / as far as
la corteza
the crust
Questions & Answers about No se lo sirvan hasta que la corteza esté lista.
Why is esté in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative?
Just like with a medida que in this lesson, hasta que (until) takes the subjunctive when it refers to an anticipated or future event. Since the crust isn't ready yet in this context, we use the subjunctive esté. If we were talking about a past, experienced habit (like "We always waited until the crust was ready"), we would use the indicative.
Why does the sentence use se lo instead of le lo?
In Spanish, when the indirect object pronouns le or les (to him/her/them) are placed directly before the direct object pronouns lo, la, los, or las (it/them), the first pronoun changes to se. This avoids the awkward "le lo" sound. Here, se means "to him" and lo means "it".
Who is being addressed with the verb sirvan?
Sirvan is the negative command form (imperative) for ustedes (plural "you"). The speaker is telling a group of people not to serve the dish yet. Notice that in negative commands, the pronouns se and lo go before the verb, whereas in affirmative commands they would attach to the end as one word (like sírvanselo).
Could we use sea instead of esté with lista?
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