Learn Spanish (Latin America): La comida está lista. ¡Buen provecho!

La comida está lista. ¡Buen provecho!

The food is ready. Enjoy your meal!

Breakdown of La comida está lista. ¡Buen provecho!

estar

to be (location/state)

Questions & Answers about La comida está lista. ¡Buen provecho!

Why do we use está instead of es here?

We use está (from estar) because the food being ready is a temporary state or condition. This is a great word to pay attention to: when used with estar, lista means "ready". But if you used ser and said La comida es lista, it would mean "The food is smart"!

The current lesson is about using ¡Que... ! for wishes. Why doesn't this phrase use that?

¡Buen provecho! is a traditional set phrase that doesn't need a verb, much like "Happy birthday!" or "Good morning!". While you could technically say something like ¡Que disfrutes tu comida! (May you enjoy your food!) using the ¡Que + subjunctive pattern you are learning, ¡Buen provecho! is by far the most natural, everyday way to say "Enjoy your meal" in Latin America.

Why is it buen provecho and not bueno provecho?

The adjective bueno drops its final -o when it comes directly before a masculine singular noun. Since provecho is masculine and singular, bueno shortens to buen.

What does provecho actually mean?

Literally, it means "benefit" or "advantage". So, ¡Buen provecho! essentially means "Good benefit [from your food]!" You'll also see this word in other everyday phrases like sacar provecho (to make the most out of something / to take advantage of something).