Tengo un nuevo pasatiempo: juego un videojuego de aventura cada fin de semana.

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Questions & Answers about Tengo un nuevo pasatiempo: juego un videojuego de aventura cada fin de semana.

What does tengo mean here, and why is it used to talk about a hobby?

Tengo is the first‑person singular of tener, which literally means “to have” (to possess).

In Spanish, you normally use tener to talk about things you “have” in a broad sense:

  • Tengo un nuevo pasatiempo. – I have a new hobby.
  • Tengo un coche. – I have a car.
  • Tengo mucho trabajo. – I have a lot of work.

So Tengo un nuevo pasatiempo is the natural way to say “I have a new hobby” in Spanish. Using haber (like hay) here would be wrong, because hay talks about existence in general, not about something you personally have.

Why is it un nuevo pasatiempo and not un pasatiempo nuevo? Is there a difference?

Both un nuevo pasatiempo and un pasatiempo nuevo are grammatically correct.

  • un nuevo pasatiempo (adjective before noun)
  • un pasatiempo nuevo (adjective after noun)

In this specific case, the difference is small:

  • un nuevo pasatiempo often feels a bit more like “a new (another) hobby,” focusing on the newness/novelty relative to your other hobbies.
  • un pasatiempo nuevo sounds more neutral, like simply “a hobby that is new.”

In everyday speech, people in Latin America will very often say un nuevo pasatiempo. Many adjectives in Spanish can go before or after the noun, and the position can slightly affect nuance, but here both are fine.

Why is there no yo before juego? Can I say Yo juego un videojuego…?

Spanish verbs are conjugated to show the subject, so the pronoun is often unnecessary:

  • juego = I play
  • juegas = you play
  • juega = he/she/you (formal) play

Because juego already tells us the subject is yo, you usually omit yo unless you want to emphasize it:

  • Juego un videojuego de aventura… – I play an adventure video game… (normal)
  • Yo juego un videojuego de aventura…I play an adventure video game… (emphasis, contrast: “I (not someone else) play…”)

So Yo juego… is correct, just more emphatic or redundant in neutral contexts.

Why is the verb juego and not toco or something else? In English it’s just “play.”

English uses play for many things, but Spanish has different verbs:

  • jugar – to play a game or sport
    • juego un videojuego – I play a video game
    • juego fútbol – I play soccer
  • tocar – to play a musical instrument (also “to touch”)
    • toco la guitarra – I play the guitar
  • reproducir / poner – to play media (music, video)
    • reproduzco/pondo una canción – I play a song

Since a video game is a game, the correct verb is jugar, so juego un videojuego de aventura is the right choice.

How is juego formed from jugar? Why isn’t it jugo?

Jugar is an irregular verb. In the present tense, the u changes to ue in most forms:

  • yo juego
  • juegas
  • él/ella/usted juega
  • nosotros/nosotras jugamos (no stem change)
  • ustedes/ellos/ellas juegan

So:

  • yo jugo – incorrect
  • yo juego – correct (“I play”)

This type of verb is called a stem‑changing verb (u → ue) in the present tense.

Why is it un videojuego de aventura? Could you also say un videojuego de aventuras or un juego de video?

All of these exist, but they’re not always equally common or natural.

  • un videojuego de aventura – literally “an adventure video game”; very natural, especially when it’s one specific genre (adventure).
  • un videojuego de aventuras – also used; it can sound like “a game of adventures,” but in practice it also means “adventure video game.” You’ll see both singular and plural.
  • un juego de video – understood, but in many Latin American countries videojuego is more standard and sounds more natural than juego de video.

So the sentence’s un videojuego de aventura is perfectly idiomatic. Depending on country and context, videojuego de aventuras can also be fine.

Why do we say cada fin de semana and not cada fines de semana or cada fin de semanas?

With cada (“each/every”), the noun stays singular:

  • cada día – every day
  • cada semana – every week
  • cada fin de semana – every weekend

So:

  • cada fin de semana – correct
  • cada fines de semana – incorrect (mismatch: cada with plural fines)
  • cada fin de semanas – incorrect (plural semanas but singular fin)

If you want to use a plural form, you drop cada and use todos los:

  • todos los fines de semana – every weekend
What’s the difference between cada fin de semana and todos los fines de semana?

They’re very close in meaning: both can be translated as “every weekend.”

  • cada fin de semana – literally “each weekend.”
    • Slightly more individualizing: you think of each weekend as a separate unit.
  • todos los fines de semana – literally “all the weekends.”
    • Slightly more collective: all weekends as a group.

In most everyday contexts, they’re interchangeable, and both are very common in Latin America:

  • Juego un videojuego de aventura cada fin de semana.
  • Juego un videojuego de aventura todos los fines de semana.

Both sound natural.

Why is fin de semana singular here if we’re talking about something that happens repeatedly?

Spanish frequently uses the singular to talk about repeated times when combined with words like cada:

  • cada mañana – every morning
  • cada lunes – every Monday
  • cada verano – every summer
  • cada fin de semana – every weekend

The idea of repetition comes from cada, not from making the noun plural. So:

  • Juego… cada fin de semana. – I play… every weekend.

If you don’t use cada, then you often switch to plural + article:

  • Juego… los fines de semana. – I play on weekends.
Why is it nuevo pasatiempo and not nueva pasatiempo? What gender is pasatiempo?

Pasatiempo is a masculine noun in Spanish:

  • el pasatiempo – the hobby
  • un pasatiempo – a hobby

Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun:

  • masculine singular: un nuevo pasatiempo
  • feminine singular: una nueva afición (here afición is feminine)
  • plural masculine: unos pasatiempos nuevos
  • plural feminine: unas aficiones nuevas

So you say un nuevo pasatiempo (masculine), not una nueva pasatiempo.

Why is the simple present juego used to mean “I play … every weekend” instead of something like “I am playing”?

Spanish uses the simple present much more than English to talk about:

  • habits and routines
  • general facts
  • long‑term actions

So:

  • Juego un videojuego de aventura cada fin de semana.
    = I play an adventure video game every weekend.
    (habitual action – same as English simple present.)

If you said:

  • Estoy jugando un videojuego de aventura.

that would mean “I am playing an adventure video game right now / these days,” focusing on the action in progress, not the routine. For a regular weekend habit, juego (simple present) is the natural choice.