Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Prefiero un paseo tranquilo por el parque después del trabajo. - I prefer a quiet walk in the park after work.

In Spanish, subject pronouns like yo are optional because the verb ending already indicates who is performing the action. Prefiero is first-person singular (“I prefer”), so adding yo would be redundant. You could say Yo prefiero un paseo tranquilo… only if you want to emphasize I in contrast to someone else.

What tense and person is prefiero, and why does it change from preferir?

Prefiero is the present indicative, first-person singular form of preferir (to prefer). It’s a stem-changing verb: the e in the stem changes to ie in all forms except nosotros/vosotros. So:

yo prefiero
tú prefieres
él/ella prefiere
…and so on.

Why do we say un paseo tranquilo and not una paseo tranquilo or paseos tranquilos?

• Paseo is a masculine singular noun, so it needs the masculine singular article un.
• The adjective tranquilo agrees in gender (masculine) and number (singular).
• Una paseo is wrong because una is feminine.
• Paseos tranquilos would be plural (“peaceful walks”), but here you mean “a peaceful walk” (singular).

Why is the adjective tranquilo placed after the noun paseo, and can we put it before?

• In neutral Spanish style, descriptive adjectives usually follow the noun: paseo tranquilo.
• Placing it before (un tranquilo paseo) isn’t incorrect but sounds more poetic or emphatic (“a truly calm walk”). In everyday speech, noun + adjective is standard.

Why use por el parque instead of en el parque or al parque?

• Por expresses movement through or around a space: “a walk through the park.”
• En el parque would emphasize location (“in the park”), not the act of moving.
• Al parque (a + el = al) means “to the park” (i.e. heading there), not “through it.”

Why do we say después del trabajo instead of después de el trabajo?

In Spanish, de + el always contracts to del. So después de el trabajo becomes después del trabajo.

Could you say dar un paseo tranquilo instead of just un paseo tranquilo?

Yes. Dar un paseo is a common way to say “to take a walk.” You could say:
Prefiero dar un paseo tranquilo por el parque después del trabajo.
Omitting dar is also fine when the action “take a walk” is understood from context.

Is there a difference between tranquilo and relajante?

• Tranquilo describes something as calm or peaceful (a calm walk).
• Relajante describes something as relaxing or soothing (a walk that relaxes you).
Both are correct; choose tranquilo to stress the peaceful atmosphere, relajante to highlight its stress-relief effect.