Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): En el guion, una bruja pierde su varita mágica en la montaña durante una tormenta. - In the script, a witch loses her magic wand in the mountain during a storm.

In other contexts, guion can also mean “guideline” or “outline”, but with a witch and a magic wand, this clearly refers to a script for a story, movie, or play.

Why is guion written without an accent? I’ve also seen guión.

Both guion and guión existed historically, but modern standard spelling (recommended by the Royal Spanish Academy) is guion without an accent.

Reason:

Guion is considered one syllable (a diphthong: gui-on pronounced like “gyon”),
One-syllable words normally don’t carry an accent mark.

So today:

✅ guion (correct, standard)
❌ guión (considered outdated / non‑standard, though you may still see it)

Why is it En el guion and not En un guion?

En el guion = In *the script → refers to a *specific script that speaker and listener know about (for example, the script we’re reading or discussing).
En un guion = In *a script → refers to *any script, not a particular one.

In your sentence, the idea is that we’re talking about a particular story/script where this witch appears, so el is natural.

Why is it una bruja and not la bruja?

una bruja = a witch → introduces her for the first time; she is new information.
la bruja = the witch → assumes the listener already knows which witch you mean.

In narratives:

First mention: una bruja (indefinite article)
Later mentions: la bruja (La bruja trata de encontrar su varita…)

So the sentence is introducing a new character in the script: una bruja.

Does bruja always mean a literal witch, or can it be insulting?

Bruja has several uses:

Literal witch (here in your sentence)
- una bruja = a witch (magical character)
Insult, especially toward women
- Can mean “hag,” “old witch,” “nasty woman.”
- Tone depends on context; it can be very rude.
Playful / affectionate in some contexts
- Among close friends or partners, sometimes used teasingly:
  - Eres una bruja, siempre lo adivinas todo
- This depends heavily on relationship and tone.

In your script sentence, it’s clearly a fantasy character, not an insult.

Why is pierde (present tense) used instead of a past tense like perdió?

This is the “present of narration” or “historical present”, very common in Spanish when summarizing plots:

En el guion, una bruja pierde su varita mágica…
= In the script, a witch loses her magic wand… (story summary)

We do this in English too when we summarize:

“In the movie, a boy finds a dragon…” (present)

You could also use past:

En el guion, una bruja perdió su varita mágica…
This is grammatically correct but sounds more like retelling a specific past event, less like a standard plot summary. The present tense is more natural for describing storylines.

Could I say perdió instead of pierde? What would change?

Yes, you can, and it’s correct:

En el guion, una bruja perdió su varita mágica…

Difference in feel:

pierde → neutral, standard for a story summary; feels “timeless.”
perdió → places the action more clearly in the past; could feel like you’re narrating a specific event that happened in the script rather than giving a general summary.

Most plot summaries and blurbs in Spanish use the present:

En esta película, un joven descubre un secreto…

Why is it su varita mágica and not la varita mágica?

Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:

su varita mágica = her magic wand
- Emphasizes possession: the wand belongs to that witch.
- su is ambiguous in Spanish; it could mean her, his, its, their depending on context. Here the context makes it “her.”
la varita mágica = the magic wand
- Refers to a specific wand, but doesn’t highlight whose it is.
- It might be a well‑known wand in the story, for example.

In stories about witches, su varita mágica is very natural because we usually think of each witch having her own wand.

Why is it varita mágica and not mágica varita?

In Spanish, most adjectives go after the noun:

varita mágica = magic wand (standard word order)

Placing the adjective before the noun (like mágica varita) is:

Grammatically possible, but
Much less common, and
Usually adds a poetic, emotional, or emphatic tone.

Examples:

una varita mágica → neutral, descriptive.
una mágica varita → sounds literary/poetic, like in a fairy tale narration with extra drama.

For everyday, neutral description, varita mágica is the normal phrase.

What is the difference between varita and vara?

vara = “rod,” “staff,” “stick” (more generic)
varita = diminutive of vara → “little stick,” and in context often “wand.”

In fantasy contexts:

varita mágica = magic wand
If you said vara mágica, it would sound like a larger rod or staff, not the small wand we imagine.

Why is it en la montaña and not en las montañas?

en la montaña = in/on the mountain (a specific mountain or mountainous area)
en las montañas = in the mountains (a mountain range / mountainous region in general)

Nuance:

en la montaña can suggest one particular mountain or simply “up in the mountain area” as a setting.
en las montañas focuses more on the idea of a region of mountains.

Both are possible depending on the image you want, but the original sentence chooses la to present a single, specific place in the story.

Is durante una tormenta different from saying en una tormenta?

Yes, there is a small nuance:

durante una tormenta = during a storm
- Focuses on time: at some point while a storm is happening.
en una tormenta = in a storm
- Can also mean “during a storm,” but sounds slightly more like the storm is the environment or condition.

In most everyday contexts, they overlap heavily, and both are acceptable here:

…en la montaña durante una tormenta.
…en la montaña en una tormenta.

Durante is a bit more explicit about the temporal relationship (“at that time, while the storm was ongoing”).

Can I replace durante una tormenta with mientras una tormenta?

Not by itself. Mientras doesn’t work like durante:

durante
- noun
- ✅ durante una tormenta
- ✅ durante la noche
mientras needs a verb after it:
- ✅ mientras llovía = “while it was raining”
- ✅ mientras duraba la tormenta = “while the storm lasted”
- ❌ mientras una tormenta (incorrect)

So to use mientras, you must say something like:

En la montaña, mientras llovía, una bruja pierde su varita mágica.

How do you pronounce guion, bruja, and varita mágica?

Approximate pronunciations (Latin American Spanish):

guion → [gyón]
- gui like “gee” in “geese” but shorter, plus a slight “y” feel: “gyon”
- Stress on the only syllable, so it sounds like gyón.
bruja → [BROO-ha]
- br like English “b” + “r” together
- u like “oo” in food
- j = strong “h” sound from the throat (like a harsher “h”): BROO‑ha.
varita mágica → [va-REE-ta MA-hee-ka]
- va like “vah”
- ri like “ree” but with a tapped/flapped r
- ta as in “tah”
- má is stressed: MA-hee-ka
- g before i in mágica sounds like English “h” (same as j): MA-hee-ka.