Breakdown of Los cocineros nos sirven la comida.
nos
to us / ourselves / us (direct object)
la comida
the food; the meal, lunch (the main midday meal in Spain)
servir
to serve
el cocinero
the cook, the chef
Questions & Answers about Los cocineros nos sirven la comida.
Why does nos come before the verb instead of after it?
In Spanish, object pronouns like nos (us) almost always go immediately before the conjugated verb. While in English we say "serve us", Spanish uses the order "us they serve": nos sirven.
Why is the verb spelled sirven instead of "serven"?
The infinitive is servir (to serve), but it is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the e in the stem changes to an i for most forms, including the "they" form used here: ellos sirven.
Does la comida just mean "the food"?
Could we drop Los and just say Cocineros nos sirven la comida?
No. In Spanish, when a noun is the subject of the sentence, it almost always needs a definite article (el, la, los, las). Even if we meant cooks in general, we would still need Los.