Breakdown of Después del experimento, guardo las gafas de protección en el laboratorio.
Questions & Answers about Después del experimento, guardo las gafas de protección en el laboratorio.
In Spanish, the preposition de contracts with the masculine singular article el to form del:
- de + el = del
- de + la = de la (no contraction)
So:
- ❌ después de el experimento
- ✅ después del experimento
This contraction is mandatory in standard Spanish whenever de is immediately followed by el (the article, not the pronoun).
Después by itself is an adverb, but when it’s followed by a noun, you almost always need de:
- después de + noun → después del experimento
- después (de eso) = afterwards / after that (the de can be omitted only when it’s understood or there’s no explicit noun after it)
So with a noun (el experimento), you say después de (→ después del).
Guardo (present) is used here to describe a habitual action or a routine:
- Después del experimento, guardo las gafas…
= After the experiment, I (usually) put the goggles away.
If you were narrating a specific, completed event in the past, you’d use the preterite:
- Después del experimento, guardé las gafas…
= After the experiment, I put the goggles away (that time).
So:
- guardo → routine, habit, general rule
- guardé → one finished action in the past
In this context, guardar means:
- to put away / to store / to put back in its place.
So:
- guardo las gafas ≈ I put the goggles away / I store the goggles.
Other verbs:
- poner (to put/place):
- Pongo las gafas en el laboratorio.
Just means you place them there; it doesn’t clearly have the “put away / store properly” idea.
- Pongo las gafas en el laboratorio.
- mantener (to keep/maintain):
- Mantengo las gafas en el laboratorio.
Focuses on “I keep them there (they stay there)”, not the action of putting them away.
- Mantengo las gafas en el laboratorio.
Guardar is the most natural if you mean “put them away / store them” after using them.
Spanish often uses the definite article (el / la / los / las) instead of a possessive when:
- The possessor is clear from context, especially with:
- body parts
- clothes
- personal items / tools being used.
So:
- Después del experimento, guardo las gafas de protección…
is naturally understood as the (my) safety goggles I’ve been using.
You can say mis gafas de protección, but it emphasizes ownership more explicitly, as if you’re distinguishing yours from other people’s.
Gafas is a feminine plural noun in Spanish:
- la gafa (rare; usually only plural)
- las gafas = glasses / goggles
The article and any adjectives must match the gender and number:
- las gafas de protección
- unas gafas nuevas
- estas gafas
If you change the word, the gender can change:
- los lentes (masculine plural)
- los anteojos (masculine plural)
So:
- las gafas
- los lentes
- los anteojos
In many parts of Latin America, people more often say:
- lentes de seguridad
- lentes de protección
- gafas de seguridad
Gafas is very common in Spain; in a lot of Latin American countries, lentes or anteojos feel more natural:
- Después del experimento, guardo los lentes de seguridad en el laboratorio.
Your sentence with gafas de protección is correct and fully understandable everywhere, but in typical Latin American usage you’ll often hear lentes de seguridad instead.
Both patterns are correct:
- Noun + de + noun:
- gafas de protección = literally glasses of protection
- Noun + adjective:
- gafas protectoras = protective glasses
In technical or safety contexts, Spanish strongly favors the noun + de + noun structure:
- gafas de seguridad
- guantes de látex
- botas de trabajo
Gafas de protección / gafas de seguridad sounds more standard and technical than gafas protectoras, which is correct but less common in real-life usage.
The prepositions here have different meanings:
- en = in / inside / at
- en el laboratorio → in the lab (location)
- a = to (direction, movement toward)
- al laboratorio = to the lab (you are going there)
- por = through / around / by (movement in an area or vague location)
- por el laboratorio = around the lab / through the lab
In your sentence, the goggles are kept in that place, so en el laboratorio is the correct choice.
Yes. Time expressions are quite flexible in Spanish. All of these are possible and natural:
- Después del experimento, guardo las gafas de protección en el laboratorio.
- Guardo las gafas de protección en el laboratorio después del experimento.
- Guardo, después del experimento, las gafas de protección en el laboratorio. (more formal / written)
The most common in speech would likely be the first two. Putting después del experimento at the beginning highlights the time frame a bit more.
- después del experimento
- Focus on the event as a noun: after the experiment (as an event).
- después de que termine el experimento
- Focus on the moment it finishes, using a verb: after the experiment finishes / is over.
Often they’re interchangeable in meaning:
- Después del experimento, guardo las gafas.
- Después de que termine el experimento, guardo las gafas.
The version with de que + verb is slightly more precise about the timing (right after it ends), and it allows you to change tense:
- Después de que terminó el experimento, guardé las gafas.
The accent in después marks the stressed syllable:
- des-PUÉS
Without the accent, according to normal stress rules, it would be pronounced DÉs-pues. The written accent tells you the stress is on the last syllable instead.
So después is correctly written with an accent to reflect its actual pronunciation.