Comparamos las posiciones.

Comparamos is the present tense, first-person plural form of comparar, meaning to compare.

So comparamos means we compare.

It can also sometimes mean we compared in other contexts, because this same form is also used for the preterite with -ar verbs. However, if the sentence is presented on its own as a basic example, learners will usually understand it as we compare.

Spanish often omits subject pronouns when the verb already shows who is doing the action.

• Comparamos already tells you the subject is we
• So Nosotros comparamos las posiciones is grammatical, but usually unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast

For example:

• Comparamos las posiciones. = We compare the positions.
• Nosotros comparamos las posiciones, pero ellos comparan los resultados. = We compare the positions, but they compare the results.

Spanish does this much more often than English.

Spanish uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) more often than English does.

So las posiciones literally means the positions.

In English, you might sometimes say just positions in a general sense, but in Spanish it is very common and natural to include the article when talking about specific things or a known set of things.

So:

• Comparamos las posiciones. = We compare the positions.

Not using las would usually sound less natural unless the context clearly calls for a bare plural.

Because posiciones is:

• feminine
• plural

The singular form is la posición and the plural is las posiciones.

Article agreement in Spanish:

• el = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular
• los = masculine plural
• las = feminine plural

Since posiciones is feminine plural, it needs las.

A very common clue is the ending -ción, which is usually feminine in Spanish.

Examples:

• la posición
• la canción
• la información
• la situación

So when you see a noun ending in -ción, it is very often safe to assume it is feminine.

Nouns ending in -ción usually form the plural by changing:

• -ción → -ciones

So:

• posición → posiciones

This is a very common pattern:

• nación → naciones
• lección → lecciones
• información → informaciones (less common in everyday use, but grammatically fine)

Also notice that the written accent disappears in the plural:

• posición has an accent
• posiciones does not

That happens because the stress pattern changes naturally in the plural form, so the accent mark is no longer needed.

A helpful approximation is:

kohm-pah-RAH-mohs las poh-see-THYOH-nes

In standard Spain pronunciation:

• c before i in posiciones is pronounced like the th in think
• so posiciones sounds roughly like poh-see-THYOH-nes

Stress:

• comparamos → stress on ra
• posiciones → stress on cio

If you are aiming for a Spain accent, that ci = th + y/sound is one of the main things to notice.

Yes. With -ar verbs, the present and the preterite nosotros forms are often identical.

So comparamos can mean either:

• we compare
  or
• we compared

The context tells you which one is meant.

For example:

• Cada semana comparamos las posiciones. = Every week we compare the positions.
  → present

• Ayer comparamos las posiciones. = Yesterday we compared the positions.
  → past

Without context, people often assume the present in a simple learning example.

The infinitive is comparar, meaning to compare.

Its present tense forms are:

• yo comparo = I compare
• tú comparas = you compare
• él/ella compara = he/she compares
• nosotros comparamos = we compare
• vosotros comparáis = you all compare
• ellos comparan = they compare

Since you asked about Spanish from Spain, it is useful to notice vosotros comparáis, which is commonly used in Spain.

It is grammatically correct and natural, but by itself it sounds a bit context-dependent.

A listener may wonder:

• positions in a game?
• job rankings?
• body positions?
• chess positions?
• military positions?

That is completely normal. Many short example sentences are grammatically fine even if they are a bit open-ended without context.

So Comparamos las posiciones is a good sentence for learning grammar, even if real conversation would often give more detail.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Comparamos las posiciones = We compare the positions / We are comparing the positions in a general or simple present sense
• Estamos comparando las posiciones = We are comparing the positions right now, emphasizing the ongoing action

Spanish often uses the simple present where English might use either we compare or we are comparing, depending on context.

So both are possible, but they are not always identical in nuance.

Because the sentence structure is simply:

verb + object

• Comparamos = verb
• las posiciones = direct object

This is very normal in Spanish.

You could also add the subject:

• Nosotros comparamos las posiciones

But the most natural basic version usually leaves out nosotros, since comparamos already tells you who the subject is.