Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): En la elección pasada, mi vecina trabajó como voluntaria en el estadio de nuestro pueblo. - In the last election, my neighbor worked as a volunteer at the stadium in our town.

Putting the adjective before the noun is possible but less common and usually adds a special nuance (often more emotional, subjective, or poetic). For example:

la pasada elección could sound more literary or emphatic, not the neutral everyday choice.

So “elección pasada” is simply the normal, neutral order: noun + adjective.

Could you also say “en las elecciones pasadas” instead of “en la elección pasada”?

Yes, that’s possible, but there’s a nuance:

en la elección pasada = in the last election (refers to one specific election)
en las elecciones pasadas = in the past elections / in previous elections (sounds more general, could suggest more than one past election)

In everyday speech, both can be understood as “the last election” depending on context, but singular usually points to one concrete electoral event.

Why is it “en la elección pasada” and not something like “durante la elección pasada”?

Both are grammatically correct, but:

en la elección pasada = literally “in the last election,” but idiomatically means “during the last election period / event.” Very natural and common.
durante la elección pasada = “during the last election,” slightly more explicit about time, a bit more formal-sounding.

Spanish uses en very broadly for time periods and events, so en la elección pasada is perfectly natural.

Why is “trabajó” (preterite) used and not “trabajaba” (imperfect)?

The preterite (trabajó) is used for completed actions seen as finished events in the past. Here, working as a volunteer during that specific election is a bounded, completed event.

If you said:

Mi vecina trabajaba como voluntaria…

you’d be focusing more on the ongoing nature or background of the action (what she used to be doing), not just the fact that she did it once and finished. For a specific, finished event like “in the last election,” preterite (trabajó) is the natural choice.

Why is it “trabajó como voluntaria” and not just “trabajó voluntaria”?

In Spanish, to express “worked as [role]”, you typically need “como” (or sometimes “de”):

Trabajó como voluntaria. = She worked as a volunteer.
Trabajó de voluntaria. = Very common and natural too in Latin America.

Saying “trabajó voluntaria” without como or de sounds incomplete or wrong to native speakers in this context.

Is there any difference between “trabajó como voluntaria”, “trabajó de voluntaria”, and “fue voluntaria”?

They’re all correct but slightly different in feel:

trabajó como voluntaria – neutral, clear; emphasizes the function/role she had while working.
trabajó de voluntaria – very common in everyday speech; almost the same meaning as “como voluntaria.”
fue voluntaria – literally “she was a volunteer”; focuses more on her status/role, not explicitly on the action of working (though it’s implied).

In this sentence, any of the three could work, but “trabajó como voluntaria” balances action and role nicely.

Why does “voluntaria” end in -a? Could it be “voluntario”?

Voluntario/voluntaria changes form to agree with the gender of the person:

mi vecina = my (female) neighbor
→ voluntaria (feminine)
mi vecino = my (male) neighbor
→ voluntario (masculine)

So in this sentence, because vecina is feminine, voluntaria must also be feminine.

Why is it “mi vecina” and not “la vecina”? In English we say “the neighbor” a lot.

Spanish uses possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su…) more often than English when talking about personal relationships or people close to you:

mi vecina = literally “my neighbor,” and this is the natural way to refer to your neighbor.

La vecina is also possible, but it can sound like:

“the neighbor” (that neighbor we both know about)
a more impersonal way to refer to her

If you mean specifically your neighbor, mi vecina is the most direct and common choice.

Why is it “en el estadio de nuestro pueblo” and not just “en nuestro estadio”?

Both are possible, but they emphasize slightly different things:

en el estadio de nuestro pueblo = “in the stadium of our town.”
Focuses on the idea “the stadium that belongs to / is located in our town.”
en nuestro estadio = “in our stadium.”
Emphasizes our ownership or connection, less specific about “town.”

The original phrasing also clarifies which stadium (the one from our town, not, say, a neighboring city). It’s also very natural to talk about local places this way in Spanish.

What exactly does “pueblo” mean here? “People” or “town”?

Pueblo has two main meanings:

Town / village / small city (a place)
People (as in “the people of a country”)

In this sentence, “nuestro pueblo” clearly means “our town” (a place).
You know this because it’s something that can logically have a stadium: “the stadium of our town.” If it meant “our people,” that wouldn’t fit well with estadio de nuestro pueblo.

Could you say “ciudad” instead of “pueblo”? For example, “el estadio de nuestra ciudad”?

Yes, you can say:

en el estadio de nuestra ciudad = in the stadium of our city.

The difference is mainly size and feel:

pueblo – usually a smaller place: town, village, small city.
ciudad – larger, more urban: city.

Speakers choose pueblo or ciudad based on how they see their own community. Grammatically, both work exactly the same in this sentence.

Why do we need “la” in “en la elección pasada”? Could we say just “en elección pasada”?

You almost always need an article (el, la, los, las) before singular countable nouns like elección when you’re talking about a specific one:

en la elección pasada = in the last election (that specific one)
en elección pasada – sounds ungrammatical in standard Spanish.

Leaving out the article is possible in a few special patterns (like headlines, labels, some set expressions), but not in a normal sentence like this.