Learn Spanish (Spain): No como carne, prefiero el pescado.

No como carne, prefiero el pescado.

I do not eat meat, I prefer fish.

Breakdown of No como carne, prefiero el pescado.

no / not

comer

to eat; to have lunch

Questions & Answers about No como carne, prefiero el pescado.

Why is there no word for 'I' or 'do' in 'No como'?

In Spanish, the ending of the verb tells you who is doing the action. The -o on the end of como (from comer, to eat) already means 'I eat'. Also, Spanish doesn't use a translation of 'do' to make negative sentences. You just put No right before the verb to mean 'I do not eat'.

Why does the sentence say 'carne' but 'el pescado'? Why does fish get 'el' but meat doesn't get 'la'?

This is about how the verbs work. With verbs of consumption like comer (to eat), you usually leave out the article when talking about the food in general. But with verbs of preference like preferir (to prefer) or gustar (to like), Spanish requires the definite article (el or la) when talking about a general category, so we must say el pescado.

I thought the word for fish was 'pez'. Why does this use 'pescado'?

Spanish has two words for fish. Un pez is a live animal swimming in the water. El pescado is a fish that has been caught and is ready to be eaten as food. Since you are talking about eating it, you use pescado.

Why does 'prefiero' have an 'ie' in the middle?

The infinitive (dictionary form) of the verb is preferir (to prefer). This is what we call a stem-changing verb. When you conjugate it for the 'I' form, the second e changes to ie, making it prefiero.