El domingo jugamos baloncesto en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.

On Sunday we play basketball on the court in the park with our neighbors.

Breakdown of El domingo jugamos baloncesto en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.

• con: with
• nosotros: we
• en: on
• el parque: the park
• nuestro: our
• jugar: to play
• del: of the
• el vecino: the neighbor
• el domingo: the Sunday
• el baloncesto: the basketball
• la cancha: the court

Questions & Answers about El domingo jugamos baloncesto en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.

Why is it El domingo and not En el domingo or just Domingo?

In Spanish, days of the week usually take the definite article el or los when you say “on [day]”:

• El domingo = On Sunday (a specific Sunday)
• Los domingos = On Sundays (every Sunday)

You normally don’t say en el domingo for “on Sunday”; that sounds like “in Sunday”.

You also don’t usually drop the article in this kind of sentence; domingo jugamos… sounds incomplete or like a title. So:

• ✅ El domingo jugamos… = On Sunday we played…
• ❌ En el domingo jugamos…
• ❌ Domingo jugamos… (in normal speech)

Does jugamos mean we play or we played here?

Jugamos can mean both:

• Present: (nosotros) jugamos = we play / we are playing
• Preterite (simple past): (nosotros) jugamos = we played

For -ar verbs, the nosotros form of present and preterite is spelled (and usually pronounced) the same, so context decides the meaning.

With El domingo jugamos baloncesto…, the most natural reading is:

• Past: On Sunday we played basketball…

However, in everyday speech, Spanish speakers often use the present to talk about scheduled future events:

• El domingo jugamos baloncesto can also be understood as:
  • This Sunday we’re playing basketball.

If you want to be 100% clearly future, you can say:

• El domingo jugaremos baloncesto.
• El domingo vamos a jugar baloncesto.

Could I say Nosotros jugamos baloncesto instead? Is that more correct?

Yes, you can say it, but it’s not more correct.

• Jugamos baloncesto and Nosotros jugamos baloncesto both mean We play(ed) basketball.

In Spanish, the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él, nosotros, etc.) is often omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

You typically add nosotros when you want to:

• Contrast:
  
  • Nosotros jugamos, pero ellos no.
    We played, but they didn’t.
• Emphasize:
  
  • Nosotros jugamos baloncesto el domingo.
    We (as opposed to others) played basketball on Sunday.

In a neutral sentence like this, jugamos without nosotros is the most natural.

Why is it baloncesto and not something like básquetbol or básquet in Latin America?

All of these exist, but usage varies by region:

• Baloncesto – more common in Spain, but understood everywhere.
• Básquetbol / básquet – very common in much of Latin America (also basquet in some places without the accent).

Examples:

• Mexico, Central America, parts of South America:
  
  • jugar básquet, jugar básquetbol
• Spain:
  
  • jugar al baloncesto

Your sentence is perfectly correct Spanish, but in many Latin American contexts you might hear:

• El domingo jugamos básquet en la cancha del parque…

Why is there no article before baloncesto? Why not jugamos el baloncesto?

With the verb jugar + a sport, Spanish normally uses no article:

• ✅ Jugamos baloncesto. = We play(ed) basketball.
• ✅ Juega fútbol. = He/She plays soccer.
• ❌ Jugamos el baloncesto. (sounds unnatural in standard modern usage)

An article can appear in some regional or very specific contexts (e.g. jugar al fútbol, especially in Spain), but with baloncesto in Latin America, the natural form is jugar baloncesto / básquet / básquetbol without el.

Why is it en la cancha and not a la cancha or en el campo?

Different prepositions express different ideas:

1. en la cancha = on/at the court

   • Focus on location where the action happens.
   • Jugamos baloncesto en la cancha.
     We (actually) play basketball on the court.

2. a la cancha = to the court

   • Focus on movement towards the court.
   • Vamos a la cancha.
     We’re going to the court.

So in your sentence you’re talking about where you played, not where you went, so en la cancha is correct.

As for cancha vs campo:

• Cancha is used for many sports areas: tennis court, basketball court, soccer field (in much of Latin America).
• Campo is more like a field, especially for sports like soccer or baseball, or an open countryside area.

For basketball, cancha is the natural word:
la cancha de baloncesto / la cancha de básquet.

What does del in la cancha del parque mean? Why not de el parque?

Del is simply the contraction of de + el:

• de + el = del

You must use the contraction in standard Spanish:

• ✅ la cancha del parque = the court of the park / the park’s court
• ❌ la cancha de el parque (sounds wrong)

The same happens with a + el → al:

• Voy al parque. (not a el parque)

Can I change the word order in this sentence?

Yes, Spanish word order is fairly flexible, especially with time and place phrases. All of these are possible:

• El domingo jugamos baloncesto en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.
• El domingo, con nuestros vecinos, jugamos baloncesto en la cancha del parque.
• El domingo jugamos, con nuestros vecinos, baloncesto en la cancha del parque.
• Jugamos baloncesto el domingo en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.

Differences:

• Putting El domingo at the start emphasizes when.
• Moving con nuestros vecinos earlier can highlight who with.
• The most neutral, natural version is close to the original.

What you can’t do is split words that belong together, like:

• ❌ El domingo jugamos baloncesto en la del parque cancha.

Why is it nuestros vecinos and not los vecinos or los nuestros vecinos?

• Nuestros vecinos = our neighbors (possessive adjective + noun)
• Los vecinos = the neighbors (no clear owner; just some neighbors)
• Los nuestros vecinos is incorrect; you don’t mix los with nuestros before the same noun.

So:

• Jugamos con nuestros vecinos.
  We played with our neighbors. (specifically ours)
• Jugamos con los vecinos.
  We played with the neighbors. (could be understood as “the neighbors from around here” without stressing they are “ours”)

If you want to emphasize “those neighbors of ours,” there is another structure:

• Jugamos con vecinos nuestros.
  (literally “with neighbors of ours”) – more emphatic or stylistic.

Does vecinos refer only to male neighbors?

No. In Spanish:

• vecino = male neighbor
• vecina = female neighbor
• vecinos (masculine plural) can mean:
  • A group of all men, or
  • A mixed group of men and women

So nuestros vecinos can mean:

• all male neighbors, or
• male + female neighbors together

Spanish uses the masculine plural for mixed groups by default. If someone wants to stress the presence of women, they might say:

• nuestros vecinos y vecinas
  but in everyday speech, nuestros vecinos is usually enough.

How would I say that we do this every Sunday, not just one specific Sunday?

To express a habit (every Sunday), you change el to los:

• Los domingos jugamos baloncesto en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.

Compare:

• El domingo jugamos…
  → On Sunday we played… (one particular Sunday)
• Los domingos jugamos…
  → On Sundays we (usually) play… (repeated habit)

How can I clearly say We are going to play basketball this Sunday at the park court with our neighbors?

Two very natural options:

1. Using ir a + infinitive (very common future):

• Este domingo vamos a jugar baloncesto en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.

2. Using the simple future:

• Este domingo jugaremos baloncesto en la cancha del parque con nuestros vecinos.

Both mean you will play this coming Sunday. The version with vamos a jugar sounds a bit more colloquial and is extremely common in Latin America.