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La merluza es el pescado favorito de mi madre.

La merluza es el pescado favorito de mi madre.
Hake is my mother's favorite fish.
From Lesson 201:Fish, meat and the market (la merluza, el cordero)·Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of La merluza es el pescado favorito de mi madre.

ser
to be
de
of
mi
my
la madre
the mother
el pescado
the fish
favorito
favorite
la merluza
the hake

Questions & Answers about La merluza es el pescado favorito de mi madre.

Why is there a La before merluza when the English translation just says "Hake"?
In Spanish, when you use a noun in a general sense as the subject of a sentence, you must include the definite article (el, la, los, or las). Since we are talking about hake in general, we use la merluza.
Could I use pez instead of pescado here?
No. In Spanish, pez refers to a live fish swimming in the water. Once the fish is caught and used as food, it becomes pescado. Since this sentence is talking about a favorite food, pescado is the right word.
Why does favorito end in -o if the mother is a woman and merluza is feminine?
In Spanish, adjectives always match the noun they directly describe. Even though the fish belongs to mi madre and merluza is a feminine noun, favorito is describing the word pescado. Because el pescado is masculine and singular, the adjective must be favorito.
Why do we use es instead of está in this sentence?
We use es (from the verb ser) because we are identifying what something is. Whenever you link two nouns together to say that one thing is another (hake is a fish), you always use ser, never estar.

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