Encolamos antes de imprimar el tablero chapado.

Encolar is a more technical verb meaning to apply glue or to glue up, especially in woodworking, carpentry, and similar trades.

Pegar is the more general everyday verb for to stick or to glue things together.

So in a workshop or manufacturing context in Spain, encolamos sounds more precise and natural than pegamos.

It can be either:

• present indicative: we glue
• preterite: we glued

For -ar verbs, the nosotros form is the same in those two tenses.

So encolamos could mean either one, depending on context. In a sentence like this, it often sounds like a process description or instruction, so native speakers are likely to understand it as a present/habitual/procedural form: we glue before priming...

Because Spanish usually omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• encolamos already tells you the subject is we
• so nosotros encolamos is possible, but usually unnecessary

You would normally add nosotros only for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

Example:

• Nosotros encolamos, pero ellos impriman.

After antes de, Spanish commonly uses an infinitive when the subject is the same.

So:

• Encolamos antes de imprimar...
• literally: We glue before priming...

If the subject changes, Spanish normally uses:

• antes de que + subjunctive

Example:

• Encolamos antes de que ellos imprimen ❌
• Encolamos antes de que ellos impriman ✅

So the pattern is:

• antes de + infinitive = same subject
• antes de que + subjunctive = different subject

Yes, it looks similar, but it is a different verb.

• imprimar = to prime, to apply primer, to seal a surface before finishing
• imprimir = to print

In this sentence, imprimar is the correct technical verb for surface treatment.

So a learner should be careful not to confuse:

• imprimar una superficie = to prime a surface
• imprimir un documento = to print a document

Here chapado is an adjective meaning veneered or covered with a thin facing layer.

In woodworking, tablero chapado usually refers to a board or panel that has a veneer on it, often a thin decorative wood layer over a base material.

So chapado comes from the idea of being covered with a sheet/layer.

Because in Spanish, most descriptive adjectives normally come after the noun.

So:

• el tablero chapado = the veneered board

That is the normal order. Putting the adjective before the noun here would sound unnatural.

Also, chapado is really a past participle used adjectivally, and these very often come after the noun in technical language.

Yes. Chapado is the past participle of chapar, but here it works as an adjective.

Because it is being used adjectivally, it must agree in gender and number with the noun:

• el tablero chapado
• la tabla chapada
• los tableros chapados
• las tablas chapadas

So the ending changes just like a normal adjective.

Syntactically, it goes most directly with imprimar:

• antes de imprimar el tablero chapado

So the object of the infinitive is el tablero chapado.

That said, in real-world meaning, the same board is probably also understood as the thing involved in the gluing step. Spanish often leaves that kind of shared object implicit if the context is obvious.

Because Spanish often uses the definite article to refer to a specific item already understood in the context.

So el tablero chapado suggests a particular board/panel being worked on, not just any board in general.

In technical instructions, this is very common:

• lijamos la superficie
• cortamos la pieza
• imprimamos el tablero

English sometimes leaves this more general, but Spanish often keeps the article.

Yes. In Spanish, especially in technical, procedural, or workshop language, the present tense is often used to describe steps in a process.

So Encolamos antes de imprimar el tablero chapado can sound like:

• a process description
• a workflow explanation
• a shop-floor instruction stated in a neutral way

It is less direct than a command like:

• Encolad antes de imprimar el tablero chapado
  Spain plural imperative
• Encolemos antes de imprimar el tablero chapado
  let us glue before priming...

But the present tense is very natural in manuals, demonstrations, and explanations.