Breakdown of Después de trotar, me estiro un poco en el parque.
Questions & Answers about Después de trotar, me estiro un poco en el parque.
In Spanish, when a verb comes after a preposition (like después de, antes de, para, sin), it must be in the infinitive form.
Correct:
- después de trotar = after jogging
- antes de comer = before eating
Incorrect:
- después trotar ❌ (you can’t drop the de here)
- después que troto is grammatically possible but has a slightly different structure and feel. It’s more like “after I jog” with a full clause:
- Después de que troto, me estiro… (sounds more formal / heavier)
- Después de trotar, me estiro… (more natural and direct)
So después de + infinitive is the usual and most natural way to say “after doing X”.
They’re related but not identical:
trotar: to jog / to trot
- Suggests a moderate, steady pace, like “jogging for exercise.”
- Also used for animals (a horse trotting).
correr: to run
- More general: any kind of running (sprinting, running to catch a bus, running in a race, etc.).
In many contexts, saying:
- Después de correr, me estiro…
would be totally fine and understandable, but trotar highlights that it’s jogging, not necessarily fast or intense running. In Latin America, both verbs are known; for “jogging,” trotar feels quite natural.
Because estirarse is a reflexive verb when you mean to stretch your own body.
estirar (non‑reflexive) = to stretch something else
- Estiro la camiseta. = I stretch the T-shirt.
- Estiro la masa. = I stretch the dough.
estirarse (reflexive) = to stretch yourself / your body
- Me estiro. = I stretch (my body).
- Se estira. = He/She stretches.
So:
- Después de trotar, me estiro un poco. ✅ = After jogging, I stretch a little (myself).
- Después de trotar, estiro un poco. ❌ sounds incomplete; what are you stretching?
Yes. Some common alternatives:
Hago estiramientos. = I do stretches / I do some stretching.
- Después de trotar, hago estiramientos en el parque.
Hago un poco de estiramiento. (singular, more formal-sounding)
Informally, me estiro is perfectly natural and very common. Saying hago estiramientos sounds a bit more “gym / exercise routine”-like.
Un poco literally means “a little” or “a bit.” In this sentence, it softens the action:
- Me estiro. = I stretch. (neutral, might sound like a full stretching routine)
- Me estiro un poco. = I stretch a little / for a bit (not too much).
You can leave it out:
- Después de trotar, me estiro en el parque.
That’s still correct; it just doesn’t have the nuance of “just a little.”
The comma separates an introductory time phrase from the main clause.
- Después de trotar, = After jogging, (time expression)
- me estiro un poco en el parque. = main action.
In writing, Spanish normally does use a comma in this kind of structure:
- Después de comer, salgo a caminar.
- Antes de dormir, leo un libro.
In very short sentences, the comma is sometimes omitted, but here it’s standard and helps readability.
Because en talks about the location where the action happens, while a expresses movement toward a place.
en el parque = in the park (location)
- Me estiro en el parque. = I stretch in the park.
al parque = to the park (direction; a + el = al)
- Voy al parque. = I go to the park.
- Camino al parque. = I walk to the park.
So you go al parque, but once you’re there, you stretch en el parque.
Yes. Spanish word order is fairly flexible here. All of these are grammatically correct:
- Después de trotar, me estiro un poco en el parque.
- Me estiro un poco en el parque después de trotar.
- En el parque, después de trotar, me estiro un poco.
Differences are mostly about emphasis and rhythm:
- Starting with Después de trotar emphasizes the time sequence.
- Starting with Me estiro emphasizes the stretching activity itself.
In everyday speech, the original sentence or Me estiro un poco en el parque después de trotar are very natural.
In Spanish, the simple present often expresses:
Habits / routines
- Después de trotar, me estiro un poco en el parque.
= After I jog, I (usually) stretch a bit in the park.
- Después de trotar, me estiro un poco en el parque.
General truths or repeated actions, not necessarily “right this second.”
If you wanted to talk about a specific past time, you’d change the tense:
- Ayer, después de trotar, me estiré un poco en el parque.
= Yesterday, after jogging, I stretched a little in the park.
Because in Spanish, a conjugated verb cannot follow a preposition like de. After de, the verb must be in the infinitive:
- después de trotar ✅
- después de troté ❌
- después de trotaba ❌
To express a full clause with a conjugated verb, you need después de que:
- Después de que troté, me estiré un poco.
= After I jogged, I stretched a little.
But for a short, neutral expression like in your sentence, después de + infinitive is more common and natural.
Yes, you can absolutely omit en el parque:
- Después de trotar, me estiro un poco.
That’s a complete, natural sentence. En el parque just adds extra information about where you stretch. It’s optional detail, not grammatically required.
With a reflexive verb like estirarse, Spanish allows two correct positions for the pronoun when there’s another verb:
Before the conjugated verb:
- Después de trotar, me quiero estirar un poco en el parque.
Attached to the infinitive:
- Después de trotar, quiero estirarme un poco en el parque.
Both are correct and common. In Latin America, many speakers slightly prefer attaching the pronoun to the infinitive (estirarme), but you’ll hear both all the time.
Trotar is understood and used in both Spain and Latin America. In Latin America:
- trotar is a standard way to say to jog, especially in an exercise context.
- correr is also very common and can cover jogging as well.
You’re safe using trotar in Latin American Spanish to mean going for a jog.