Questions & Answers about Servimos la cena a las nueve.
The verb servir changes its stem from e to i. Why is it servimos here and not sirvimos?
Even though servir is a stem-changing verb (for example, I serve is yo sirvo), the nosotros (we) form does not change its stem in the present tense. It keeps the regular vowel, so we use servimos.
Could servimos also mean we served in the past tense?
Why is there a la before cena? We do not say we serve the dinner in English.
In Spanish, it is standard to use the definite article (el or la) with meals when talking about them as a regular event or routine. So, dinner becomes la cena, lunch becomes la comida, and breakfast becomes el desayuno.
Why do we use las in a las nueve?
When telling time in Spanish, you always use a feminine article before the number. You use la for one o'clock and las for all other hours. This is because the phrase is secretly referring to the word horas (hours), which is a feminine plural noun.