Después de pelearnos, casi siempre nos reconciliamos con un abrazo y una broma.

After fighting, we almost always make up with a hug and a joke.

Breakdown of Después de pelearnos, casi siempre nos reconciliamos con un abrazo y una broma.

• con: with
• nosotros: we
• y: and
• después de: after
• siempre: always
• un: a
• una: a
• casi: almost
• la broma: the joke
• el abrazo: the hug
• pelearse: to fight
• reconciliarse: to make up

Questions & Answers about Después de pelearnos, casi siempre nos reconciliamos con un abrazo y una broma.

Why is it después de pelearnos and not después nos peleamos or después de nos peleamos?

In Spanish, después de followed directly by a verb must be followed by the infinitive form of the verb:

• después de + infinitive → después de pelear
• Since the verb is reflexive (pelearse), the pronoun attaches to the infinitive:
  • después de pelear + nos → después de pelearnos

You cannot say después de nos peleamos, because después de cannot be followed by a conjugated verb like peleamos.

If you want to use a conjugated verb, you have to add que:

• Después de que nos peleamos, casi siempre…
  (“After we fight, we almost always…”)

So there are two correct patterns:

1. Después de + infinitive:
   Después de pelearnos, casi siempre…
2. Después de que + conjugated verb:
   Después de que nos peleamos, casi siempre…

What’s the difference between pelear and pelearse?

Both exist and are common, but there’s a nuance:

• pelear = “to fight” in general (can be transitive or intransitive)

  • Pelear por tus derechos. – Fight for your rights.
  • Los soldados pelearon. – The soldiers fought.

• pelearse = “to fight (with each other), to have a fight, to argue”
  It emphasizes a mutual fight or argument between people.

  • Nos peleamos. – We fight / we have a fight (with each other).
  • Se pelean todo el tiempo. – They fight all the time.

In this sentence, pelearnos fits because it’s about us fighting with each other in a relationship context.

Why is the pronoun in pelearnos attached to the end, but in nos reconciliamos it goes before the verb?

Spanish has fixed rules for where reflexive and object pronouns go:

1. With a conjugated verb:

   • The pronoun goes before the verb.
   • nos reconciliamos (we reconcile with each other)

2. With an infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command:

   • The pronoun attaches to the end:
     • infinitive: pelearnos
     • gerund: peleándonos
     • command: ¡Peleémonos! (let’s fight!)

So in your sentence:

• pelearnos → infinitive + attached nos
• nos reconciliamos → conjugated verb + nos in front

Both follow the normal placement rules.

What exactly does casi siempre mean, and how is it different from just siempre?

• siempre = “always”
• casi = “almost”

So casi siempre = “almost always”, meaning most of the time, but not 100%.

Some related frequency phrases:

• siempre – always
• casi siempre – almost always
• a menudo / frecuentemente – often
• a veces – sometimes
• casi nunca – almost never
• nunca – never

Here, casi siempre nos reconciliamos means reconciliation is the usual outcome, but there are exceptions.

Can I say siempre casi instead of casi siempre?

No. The natural, correct order is casi siempre, not siempre casi.

In Spanish, casi normally comes directly before the word it modifies:

• casi siempre – almost always
• casi nunca – almost never
• casi todos – almost all (of them)
• casi nada – almost nothing

Siempre casi would sound wrong or, at best, very odd.

Why is it nos reconciliamos and not just reconciliamos?

Reconciliar without a pronoun is normally transitive: you reconcile two other parties.

• El mediador reconcilió a las dos familias.
  The mediator reconciled the two families.

When the people who are reconciling are themselves the ones in conflict, Spanish uses the reflexive form reconciliarse:

• Nos reconciliamos. – We make up / we reconcile with each other.
• Se reconciliaron. – They made up.

So nos reconciliamos = “we reconcile (with each other), we make up.”
Without nos, it would sound like: “We reconciled (someone else).”

Does nos in nos peleamos or nos reconciliamos always mean “each other”?

In this type of sentence, yes, it usually implies “each other”:

• Nos peleamos. – We fight (with each other).
• Nos reconciliamos. – We reconcile (with each other).

Grammatically, nos is just a reflexive pronoun meaning “ourselves,” but with verbs that describe reciprocal actions (fighting, kissing, hugging, helping), nos is naturally understood as “each other”:

• Nos abrazamos. – We hug (each other).
• Nos ayudamos. – We help (each other).

If needed, you can make it explicit:

• Nos peleamos entre nosotros. – We fight with each other.
• Nos reconciliamos entre nosotros. – We reconcile with each other.

Why is it después de and not just después?

• después on its own is an adverb: “later / afterward.”

  • Peleamos y después nos reconciliamos.
    We fight and afterwards we make up.

• When it introduces something like “after doing X” or “after the fight,” you use the preposition de:

  • después de + noun → después de la pelea – after the fight
  • después de + infinitive → después de pelearnos – after fighting / after we fight

So:

• Después, casi siempre nos reconciliamos. – Afterwards, we almost always make up.
• Después de pelearnos, casi siempre nos reconciliamos. – After fighting, we almost always make up.

Both are correct, but the structures are different.

In Latin American Spanish, is después de que nos peleamos also correct, or is después de pelearnos better?

Both are correct and natural in Latin American Spanish, with a slight stylistic difference:

1. Después de pelearnos, casi siempre…

   • More compact.
   • Uses infinitive.
   • Very common in spoken language.

2. Después de que nos peleamos, casi siempre…

   • Uses a full clause with a conjugated verb.
   • Often considered a bit more explicit or formal.

In Latin America, después de que + conjugated verb is very common and widely accepted as standard. Choosing one or the other is mostly a matter of style and rhythm, not correctness.

Why is the verb reconciliamos in the present tense, not past?

This is the present for habitual actions, similar to English:

• Después de pelearnos, casi siempre nos reconciliamos…
  = After we fight, we almost always make up (that’s our usual pattern).

Spanish uses the present tense to talk about:

• Habits:
  Siempre discutimos y luego nos reconciliamos.
  We always argue and then make up.
• General truths or repeated situations.

You would use the past if you were describing a specific occasion:

• Después de pelearnos, nos reconciliamos con un abrazo.
  After we fought, we made up with a hug. (one time)

Could I say nos reconciliamos casi siempre con un abrazo y una broma instead? Does word order matter?

Yes, you can change the word order, and the meaning stays basically the same:

• Después de pelearnos, casi siempre nos reconciliamos con un abrazo y una broma.
• Después de pelearnos, nos reconciliamos casi siempre con un abrazo y una broma.

Both are natural. Casi siempre is fairly flexible in position. Placing it earlier (before nos reconciliamos) slightly emphasizes the frequency more, but the difference is minimal in everyday speech.

Could I use broma and chiste interchangeably here?

Not completely interchangeably, though they overlap.

• broma = a joke, prank, playful teasing, messing around
  It focuses on the playfulness or the act of joking.

  • Era solo una broma. – It was just a joke.
  • Le hice una broma. – I played a prank on him/her.

• chiste = a joke in the sense of a funny story or one-liner

  • Contó un chiste. – He/she told a joke.

In your sentence:

• …con un abrazo y una broma.
  Sounds like they reconcile with a hug and some playful joking / teasing.

You could say …con un abrazo y un chiste, but that would sound more like:

• “…with a hug and a (told) joke.”

Broma is a bit broader and fits well the idea of “lightening the mood” after a fight.

Why is it un abrazo but una broma? How do I know the gender?

In Spanish, each noun has a grammatical gender:

• abrazo is masculine → un abrazo
• broma is feminine → una broma

There’s no logical reason; it’s just part of the word’s dictionary form. Some general patterns:

• Nouns ending in -o are usually masculine:
  el abrazo, el perro, el libro
• Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine:
  la broma, la casa, la mesa

But there are exceptions, so you need to learn each noun with its article:

• el problema (masculine)
• la mano (feminine)

So: un abrazo + una broma is just following the gender of each noun.