Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Practico yoga cada mañana.

In Spanish, the verb ending itself tells you who’s performing the action. Practico already means “I practice,” so adding yo (I) is redundant. Native speakers usually omit subject pronouns unless they need to emphasize or contrast who’s doing the action.

How is practicar conjugated in the present tense?

Practicar is a regular –ar verb. Here are its present-tense forms:
• (yo) practico – I practice
• (tú) practicas – you practice
• (él/ella/Ud.) practica – he/she/you (formal) practices
• (nosotros) practicamos – we practice
• (vosotros) practicáis – you all practice (Spain)
• (ellos/ellas/Uds.) practican – they/you all (Latin America) practice

Why is there no accent mark on practico?

Spanish words ending in a vowel, n, or s get stressed on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable by default. Practico follows that rule (PRACTI-co), so no written accent is needed.

Why don’t we use an article before yoga? Shouldn’t it be el yoga?

Although yoga is a masculine noun (el yoga), Spanish often drops the article after verbs of practicing sports or activities. You say practico yoga just as you’d say juego fútbol (with jugar you do need al, but with practicar no article: practico tenis, practico natación, practico yoga).

Can I say hacer yoga instead of practicar yoga? Are they exactly the same?

Yes. Both practicar yoga and hacer yoga mean “to practice/do yoga.”
• hacer yoga is very common in everyday speech (“I do yoga”).
• practicar yoga sounds a bit more formal or “technical” (“to practice yoga as a discipline”).
In most contexts you can use either.

What’s the difference between cada mañana, todas las mañanas, and por la mañana?

• cada mañana = “each morning” (emphasizes one morning at a time; every single day).
• todas las mañanas = “all the mornings” (synonym of cada mañana; interchangeable in most cases).
• por la mañana = “in the morning” (general time of day; doesn’t stress “every single morning,” though it can imply a routine if context is clear).

Why is the simple present practico used instead of the present continuous estoy practicando?

In Spanish, the simple present expresses habitual or repeated actions (“I practice yoga every morning”). The present continuous (estoy practicando) highlights an action happening right now. If you said estoy practicando yoga cada mañana, it would sound odd—mixing a one-time action with a habitual time frame.

Can I rearrange the sentence to put cada mañana at the start?

Yes. Spanish has flexible word order. You can say:
Cada mañana practico yoga.
Placing the time expression first adds emphasis to the routine.

How do you pronounce practico, yoga, and mañana, especially the ct, the y, and the tilde on ñ?

• practico: [ˈpɾak.ti.ko] – the “ct” cluster is pronounced separately ([k]+[t]), so it sounds like PRAK-TEE-koh.
• yoga: [ˈʝo.ɣa] – the y is like the English “y” in “yes” (a soft [ʝ]); the g before a is a hard [ɡ] or a softer fricative [ɣ] between vowels.
• mañana: [maˈɲa.na] – the tilde makes ñ into its own letter, pronounced like the “ny” in “canyon.” So you say mah-NYA-nah.