Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Encontré una piedra lisa y la guardé como recuerdo. - I found a smooth stone and kept it as a souvenir.

In Spanish, the preterite tense (pretérito) describes completed actions at a specific point in time. You use encontré (I found) and guardé (I kept) to signal that both events happened once and are finished. Using the imperfect (encontraba, guardaba) would suggest ongoing or habitual actions in the past, which doesn’t fit here.

Why do encontré and guardé carry an accent mark?

In first-person singular preterite of ‑ar verbs, you add an accent on the final -é to maintain proper stress: encontré (en-con-TRÉ) and guardé (guar-DÉ). Without the accent, the stress would shift to the penultimate syllable, which is incorrect.

Why is the adjective lisa placed after piedra?

Spanish descriptive adjectives typically follow the noun. Placing lisa after piedra emphasizes the stone’s quality (smooth). While some adjectives precede for stylistic or poetic reasons, the neutral order is noun + adjective.

What does lisa mean in this sentence?

Here, lisa means smooth—no bumps or roughness on the stone’s surface. It describes a tactile quality rather than “fair” or “plain,” which are other meanings of liso/a in different contexts.

How does the direct object pronoun la work in la guardé, and why is it la and not lo?

La replaces piedra (feminine singular) as the direct object pronoun. In Spanish, direct object pronouns agree in gender and number with the noun they replace: la (fem. sing.), lo (masc. sing.), las (fem. pl.), los (masc. pl.). So you say la guardé (“I kept it”).

Could we say guardé la piedra como recuerdo instead of la guardé como recuerdo?

Yes. You can either mention the noun explicitly—guardé la piedra como recuerdo—or replace it with la—la guardé como recuerdo. Both sentences are correct; using la simply avoids repeating piedra.

Why isn’t there a preposition before una piedra lisa like “a” in English?

In Spanish, most transitive verbs (like encontrar) take a direct object without a preposition. The “personal a” (preposition a before an object) is only used when the direct object is a specific person or animal, not inanimate things like piedra.

What role does como play in como recuerdo, and why doesn’t it have an accent?

In this phrase, como functions as “as”—I kept it as a keepsake. It has no accent because it’s not a question word (cómo with an accent means “how”). Como recuerdo is an idiomatic way to say “as a memento.” You could add un (como un recuerdo), but Spanish often drops the article in such expressions.

Are there other verbs or expressions to convey “I kept it” in this sense?

Yes. Guardar focuses on storing or putting something away. You could also say conservarlo (to preserve it) or mantenerlo (to maintain it). For instance: “Encontré una piedra lisa y la conservé como recuerdo.” The nuance is subtle: conservar stresses preservation, while guardar highlights the act of keeping or putting it aside.