Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a relajarme después del trabajo.

Nature documentaries help me relax after work.

Breakdown of Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a relajarme después del trabajo.

• de: of
• después de: after
• el trabajo: the work
• me: me
• relajarse: to relax
• ayudar: to help
• el documental: the documentary
• la naturaleza: the nature

Questions & Answers about Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a relajarme después del trabajo.

Why is it me ayudan and not me ayuda?

Because the subject (los documentales de naturaleza) is plural.

• ayuda = he/she/it helps (singular)
• ayudan = they help (plural)

In the sentence:

• Subject: Los documentales de naturaleza → they
• Verb: ayudan
• Pronoun: me (who is being helped)

So it literally means: “Nature documentaries help me…”, and since documentaries is plural, you need ayudan.

What is the function of me in me ayudan?

Me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me” or “me”.

• ayudar a alguien = to help someone
• me ayudan = they help me

You could expand it (less natural, more emphatic) as:

• Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a mí…
  (“Nature documentaries help me…”)

In normal speech, you just use me before the verb.

Why is it ayudan a relajarme and not just ayudan relajarme?

With ayudar followed by another verb in the infinitive, Spanish normally uses the preposition a:

• ayudar a + infinitive
  • Me ayudan a estudiar. – They help me (to) study.
  • Me ayuda a concentrarme. – It helps me (to) concentrate.

So you say:

• me ayudan a relajarme
  not
• me ayudan relajarme (incorrect)

Why is it relajarme and not just relajar?

Because in Spanish, when you talk about you yourself relaxing, you usually use the reflexive verb relajarse:

• relajar (non‑reflexive) = to relax something/someone else
  • La música relaja a los bebés. – Music relaxes babies.
• relajarse (reflexive) = to relax oneself
  • Quiero relajarme. – I want to relax (myself).

In the sentence, you are the one who gets relaxed, so:

• a relajarme = “to relax myself / to relax” (myself is implicit)

Grammatically:

• infinitive: relajarse
• attach pronoun: relajar + me → relajarme

Could I say me relajan instead of me ayudan a relajarme?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Me relajan los documentales de naturaleza.
  = Nature documentaries relax me (they directly cause you to feel relaxed).

• Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a relajarme.
  = Nature documentaries help me relax (they make it easier for you to relax, they contribute to it).

Both are correct; me relajan is shorter and more direct, me ayudan a relajarme emphasizes the idea of helping you to relax.

Why is it después del trabajo and not después de trabajo?

Because in Spanish, when you use después de with a noun, you usually include the article:

• después del trabajo = after the work / after work
• después de la cena = after the dinner
• después del partido = after the game

del is just the contraction of:

• de + el = del

So:

• después + de + el trabajo → después del trabajo

Después de trabajo sounds unnatural or incomplete in this context.

Can I say después de trabajar instead of después del trabajo?

Yes, and both are common, but there is a small difference in focus:

• después del trabajo
  Focuses on the period of work as a thing, like “after work (the workday)”.

• después de trabajar
  Uses a verb and focuses on the action: “after working”.

Both would be natural:

• Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a relajarme después del trabajo.
• Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a relajarme después de trabajar.

Why is it los documentales de naturaleza and not los documentales de la naturaleza?

Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:

• documentales de naturaleza
  = nature documentaries (a general category, “about nature” in a broad way).
  Very natural and common.

• documentales de la naturaleza
  = documentaries of the nature / of nature itself, a bit more specific or literary, as if nature is almost a character or subject itself.

In everyday speech, documentales de naturaleza is shorter and more typical for “nature documentaries” as a genre.

Why not say documentales naturales instead of documentales de naturaleza?

Documentales naturales would mean something like “natural documentaries,” which sounds odd in Spanish and doesn’t clearly mean “about nature.”

Spanish usually expresses “X documentaries” (documentaries about X) as:

• documentales de historia – history documentaries
• documentales de ciencia – science documentaries
• documentales de crimen – crime documentaries
• documentales de naturaleza – nature documentaries

So de + noun is the normal pattern, not using naturales as an adjective here.

Can I change the word order, like Me ayudan los documentales de naturaleza a relajarme después del trabajo?

Yes, Spanish word order is more flexible than English. These are all grammatically correct:

1. Los documentales de naturaleza me ayudan a relajarme después del trabajo.
   (Most neutral and common.)

2. Me ayudan los documentales de naturaleza a relajarme después del trabajo.
   Puts a bit more focus on they help me at the beginning.

3. Los documentales de naturaleza, después del trabajo, me ayudan a relajarme.
   With commas, more stylistic, like in written or careful speech.

Meaning stays the same; you just change emphasis. The original version is the most standard.