Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Mi profesora dice que un plan equilibrado tiene tres partes, como un triángulo: estudio, descanso y ocio. - My teacher says that a balanced plan has three parts, like a triangle: study, rest and leisure.

Equilibrado basically means balanced in the sense of “well‑proportioned,” “in good balance,” or “not excessive in any direction.”
So un plan equilibrado = a well‑balanced plan (a plan where different parts are in healthy proportion).

In Latin American Spanish:

equilibrado is very common in general contexts: a balanced life, balanced plan, balanced person, etc.
- una vida equilibrada – a balanced life
- una personalidad equilibrada – a well‑balanced personality
balanceado is also used, but often sounds more technical or is heard especially with food and nutrition:
- una dieta balanceada – a balanced diet

You can usually use equilibrado wherever you’d say “balanced” in English; it’s very natural here.

Why is it Mi profesora and not Mi profesor? How would it change for a male teacher?

Spanish marks grammatical gender on many nouns, including professions.

profesora = female teacher
profesor = male teacher

So:

Mi profesora dice… = My (female) teacher says…
Mi profesor dice… = My (male) teacher says…

Everything else in the sentence can stay the same; only profesora/profesor changes. The possessive mi doesn’t change for gender (it’s the same for masculine and feminine singular nouns).

Why is there no ella? Why don’t we say Ella, mi profesora, dice que…?

In Spanish, subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, nosotros, etc.) are often omitted because the verb ending usually makes the subject clear.

Here, Mi profesora dice… already tells you who is doing the action. Adding ella would sound redundant unless you need contrast or emphasis:

Normal / neutral: Mi profesora dice que…
Emphatic / contrast: Ella dice que…, pero el director dice otra cosa.
(She says that…, but the principal says something else.)

So leaving out ella is the most natural phrasing here.

Why is it dice que and not just dice or dice de que?

In Spanish, when you report what someone says, you usually use decir que + clause:

Mi profesora dice que un plan equilibrado tiene tres partes.
My teacher says (that) a balanced plan has three parts.

The que here is a conjunction similar to English “that.” In everyday English we often drop “that,” but in Spanish you must keep que.

Using dice de que is considered incorrect in standard Spanish in this kind of sentence. So:

✅ dice que… – correct
❌ dice de que… – wrong in this context

In English we often drop “that” (we say “My teacher says a balanced plan…”). Can we drop que in Spanish and say Mi profesora dice un plan equilibrado tiene…?

No. In this structure you cannot drop que in Spanish.

You must say:

✅ Mi profesora dice que un plan equilibrado tiene tres partes.

If you remove que, the sentence becomes ungrammatical. The word que is needed to introduce the clause un plan equilibrado tiene tres partes (“a balanced plan has three parts”).

Why is it dice (present tense) and not dijo (past tense)? Could I say Mi profesora dijo que…?

Both are possible, but they mean different things:

Mi profesora dice que…
Present tense: implies this is something she generally says, teaches, or still says now. It feels like a rule or a habitual statement.
Mi profesora dijo que…
Past tense: refers to something she said on a specific occasion in the past.

In the original sentence, the idea is more like a general principle your teacher teaches, so dice fits very well. If you’re talking about what she said in yesterday’s class, dijo would be appropriate.

Why is it tiene tres partes and not hay tres partes?

Both verbs exist in Spanish, but they’re used differently:

tener = to have / to possess
haber (hay) = there is / there are (existence, not possession)

Here, el plan is the subject that possesses three parts:

Un plan equilibrado tiene tres partes.
A balanced plan has three parts.

If you used hay, the sentence structure would change:

En un plan equilibrado hay tres partes.
In a balanced plan, there are three parts.

That’s grammatical, but the original version with tiene is more direct and natural because it treats the plan as “having” parts.

Why is the adjective after the noun: un plan equilibrado and not un equilibrado plan?

In Spanish, the normal word order is noun + adjective:

un plan equilibrado – a balanced plan
una casa grande – a big house
un día largo – a long day

Adjectives can sometimes go before the noun, but that usually adds a nuance (poetic, emotional, or changing the meaning slightly). For equilibrado, putting it before the noun would sound strange or very marked stylistically.

So, for learners, it’s safest to follow: noun first, then adjective in most cases.

Why is it un plan equilibrado and not una plan equilibrada? How do I know plan is masculine?

The word plan is masculine in Spanish, so you must use:

un plan (not una plan)
plan equilibrado (not plan equilibrada)

Grammatical gender in Spanish is mostly something you have to memorize with each noun. There are some patterns (e.g. many nouns ending in -o are masculine, many in -a are feminine), but plan doesn’t follow those endings, so you just learn it as el plan / un plan.

Adjectives must agree with the noun’s gender and number, so we say:

un plan equilibrado
unos planes equilibrados

Why is there no article before estudio, descanso y ocio? Could I say el estudio, el descanso y el ocio?

Both versions are possible, but they feel slightly different:

estudio, descanso y ocio (no articles)
Sounds more like a general list of categories or concepts. It’s very natural in this explanatory, almost schematic context.
el estudio, el descanso y el ocio (with articles)
Also correct; it makes each item feel a bit more like a specific, defined component.

In everyday speech when listing abstract activities or categories, it’s very common to omit the articles, as in the original sentence.

Are estudio, descanso, and ocio verbs or nouns here?

In this sentence, they are nouns:

estudio – study (the activity, not “I study”)
descanso – rest (the act or time of resting)
ocio – leisure / free time

They are related to verbs:

estudiar – to study → el estudio – study
descansar – to rest → el descanso – rest
(no common verb for “ociar” in standard usage), but ocio is the noun for leisure

So the teacher is saying a balanced plan has three parts (three things), not three actions in verb form.

Why is it y ocio and not e ocio? I thought y sometimes changes to e.

Spanish changes y to e only before words that start with the /i/ sound (written i- or hi-):

padres e hijos (not padres y hijos)
agua e hielo

But ocio starts with /o/, not /i/, so we keep y:

✅ estudio, descanso y ocio
❌ estudio, descanso e ocio

So the rule is: use e only before words beginning with the i/hi sound; otherwise, use y.

What does como mean in como un triángulo? Is it the same as “like” in English?

Yes. In this sentence, como means “like / as” in the sense of making a comparison:

tiene tres partes, como un triángulo
it has three parts, like a triangle

Be careful with similar forms:

como (no accent) can mean “like/as” or “I eat” (from comer)
- Como un triángulo. – Like a triangle.
- Como una manzana. – I eat an apple.
cómo (with accent) means “how”:
- ¿Cómo estás? – How are you?

In your sentence, como is clearly the comparison meaning: “like a triangle.”