Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Respiro lento, cuento hasta diez y siento menos ganas de pelear con mi hermano. - I breathe slowly, count to ten, and feel less like fighting with my brother.

Respiro ends in -o, which clearly marks 1st person singular (yo).
So yo is understood from the verb form and is not necessary:
- Respiro lento = “(I) breathe slowly.”

You would normally add yo only for emphasis or contrast, for example:

Yo respiro lento, pero él respira rápido.
“I breathe slowly, but he breathes fast.”

Why respiro lento and not respiro lentamente?

Both are possible, but respiro lento is very natural and common in everyday speech.

In Spanish, adjectives are often used with verbs to describe how an action is done, functioning like adverbs in English:

Respiro lento = “I breathe slow(ly).”

Alternatives:

Respiro lentamente – more formal, very clear adverb form.
Respiro despacio – also very common and natural: “I breathe slowly.”

In Latin American everyday speech, lento and despacio are more frequent than lentamente in this kind of sentence.

What kind of present tense is this? Is it something I do now, always, or a technique I use?

The simple present in Spanish (respiro, cuento, siento) can express several ideas:

Habit / routine
- “When I’m angry, I do this: I breathe slowly, count to 10, and then I feel less like fighting.”
General method or instruction (like describing steps)
- “Here’s my strategy: I breathe slowly, I count to ten, and I feel less like fighting...”
Something happening now if the context makes it clear.

In this sentence, with no extra context, it most naturally sounds like a habit or technique the speaker uses.

Why is it cuento hasta diez instead of something like cuento a diez?

In Spanish, the usual phrase for “count to ten” is:

contar hasta diez

Hasta here means “up to” a limit:

cuento hasta diez = “I count up to ten.”

Using a (cuento a diez) would sound incorrect or at least very strange in this context. For counting numbers in sequence to a limit, you almost always use hasta:

Contamos hasta veinte. – We count up to twenty.
Cuenta hasta cien, por favor. – Count up to one hundred, please.

What does siento menos ganas de literally mean? Why not use tengo ganas de?

The phrase sentir ganas de + infinitive means “to feel like doing something” / “to feel the urge/desire to do something.”

Siento ganas de pelear. – I feel like fighting.
Siento menos ganas de pelear. – I feel less like fighting.

You can also say:

Tengo ganas de pelear.
Tengo menos ganas de pelear.

Tener ganas de is more common in everyday speech; sentir ganas de is also correct and maybe a bit more “emotional” (it focuses more literally on the feeling).

Meaning-wise, in this sentence, siento menos ganas de pelear and tengo menos ganas de pelear are practically the same.

Why is ganas plural, and how does menos ganas work?

In Spanish, the word ganas (desire, urge, appetite to do something) is almost always used in the plural:

Tengo ganas de comer. – I feel like eating.
No tengo ganas de salir. – I don’t feel like going out.

You don’t normally say una gana in this sense.

With menos, it works like this:

ganas = desire / urge
menos ganas = less desire / a smaller urge

So:

Siento menos ganas de pelear = “I feel less like fighting.”
(literally “I feel fewer/less urges to fight,” but in English we just say “less like.”)

Why is it ganas de pelear, with de before the verb?

The structure is fixed:

tener / sentir ganas de + infinitive

You always use de before the verb:

Tengo ganas de comer.
No tengo ganas de salir.
Siento ganas de llorar.
Siento menos ganas de pelear.

So de is just part of the pattern with ganas when you say “to feel like doing [something].”

Why pelear con mi hermano and not something like contra mi hermano?

Pelear con alguien is the usual way to say “fight with someone” (physically or verbally):

Pelear con mi hermano – fight with my brother.

Contra is used more for ideas of opposition, war, or struggle against something:

Luchamos contra la injusticia. – We fight against injustice.
El equipo juega contra otro equipo. – The team plays against another team.

You can say pelear contra mi hermano, but that tends to sound more like a “versus” situation (e.g. in a match), not a normal sibling argument. For everyday family conflict, pelear con mi hermano is the natural choice.

Could it also be pelearme con mi hermano? What’s the difference?

Yes, you might hear both:

pelear con mi hermano
pelearme con mi hermano

In many varieties of Spanish, especially in everyday conversation, pelearse con alguien is very common for mutual fights or arguments:

Me peleé con mi hermano. – I fought/argued with my brother.

Difference in nuance:

pelear con – neutral; can be used for fights or arguments.
pelearse con – slightly more reflexive/reciprocal: “get into a fight/argument with.”

In practice, both are widely used in Latin America for “fight with my brother.” The original sentence without me is completely natural.

Why is it mi hermano and not el hermano or something with an article?

In Spanish, when you use a possessive adjective (mi, tu, su, nuestro, etc.), you normally do not add a definite article:

mi hermano – my brother
tu casa – your house
su perro – his/her/their dog

You don’t say:

el mi hermano (incorrect)
la mi casa (incorrect)

So pelear con mi hermano is the normal way to say “fight with my brother.”

Why is there a comma after respiro lento instead of just using y everywhere?

The sentence lists a sequence of actions:

Respiro lento
(yo) cuento hasta diez
(yo) siento menos ganas de pelear con mi hermano

Spanish allows you to separate actions in a series using commas and then connect the last one with y, just like in English:

Respiro lento, cuento hasta diez y siento menos ganas de pelear con mi hermano.

This is similar to:

“I breathe slowly, I count to ten, and I feel less like fighting with my brother.”

You could also say it with y between each part:

Respiro lento y cuento hasta diez y siento menos ganas…

But that sounds heavier and less natural in writing. The comma is just normal punctuation for a list of actions.

Could I say Respiro despacio, cuento hasta diez... instead of Respiro lento? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can, and it’s very natural:

Respiro lento
Respiro despacio

Both mean “I breathe slowly.”

Nuance:

lento – slow (literally), often used both as adjective and adverb in speech.
despacio – “slowly,” very common as an adverb.

In everyday Latin American Spanish, despacio might even be a bit more common than lento for “slowly,” but both are perfectly fine here.