Breakdown of La respiración profunda ayuda a mis pulmones y relaja mi pecho.
Questions & Answers about La respiración profunda ayuda a mis pulmones y relaja mi pecho.
In Spanish, you normally need an article in front of a singular countable noun when it acts as the subject.
- La respiración profunda ayuda… = Deep breathing helps…
Here la makes respiración profunda a clear, defined thing (the activity of deep breathing in general).
If you said Respiración profunda ayuda… (without la), it would sound incomplete or like a headline, not like normal spoken/written Spanish.
The usual, neutral word order in Spanish is noun + adjective:
- respiración profunda = deep breathing
- coche rojo = red car
- casa grande = big house
Putting the adjective before the noun (e.g. profunda respiración) is possible but marked: it sounds literary, poetic, or very emphatic, not like everyday speech.
So in normal Spanish you say la respiración profunda, not la profunda respiración.
Yes. Nouns ending in -ción are almost always feminine in Spanish:
- la respiración – the breathing
- la nación – the nation
- la información – the information
That’s why we use la respiración and the adjective in feminine singular: profunda (not profundo).
Yes, and it’s very natural:
- Respirar profundamente ayuda a mis pulmones y relaja mi pecho.
Difference in nuance:
- La respiración profunda… focuses on the thing/activity (“deep breathing” as a concept).
- Respirar profundamente… focuses on the action (“to breathe deeply”).
Both are good Spanish; the choice is stylistic.
The verb agrees with the subject, not with the objects.
- Subject: La respiración profunda (singular)
- Verbs: ayuda, relaja (both in 3rd-person singular)
- Objects: mis pulmones (plural) and mi pecho (singular)
So:
- La respiración profunda ayuda a mis pulmones y relaja mi pecho. ✅
- La respiración profunda ayudan… ❌ (wrong – verb doesn’t match the subject)
Here it’s not really the personal a, it’s because the verb ayudar is commonly used as ayudar a + noun / infinitive:
- ayudar a alguien – to help someone
- ayudar a algo – to help something
- ayudar a respirar – to help (to) breathe
So:
- La respiración profunda ayuda a mis pulmones…
You can also see ayudar algo, but ayudar a algo is very common and sounds natural here.
It’s different from the typical personal a (which is used before direct-object people/animals like Veo a María).
It’s understandable, but it sounds unnatural. Native speakers strongly prefer:
- ayuda a mis pulmones ✅
Without a:
- ayuda mis pulmones ❌ sounds foreign or off.
So in practice, treat ayudar a + noun as the normal pattern.
Because:
- pulmones = plural (lungs) → mis pulmones
- pecho = singular (chest) → mi pecho
mi = my (singular noun), mis = my (plural noun):
- mi mano, mis manos
- mi ojo, mis ojos
- mi pulmón, mis pulmones
- mi pecho (there is only one chest)
Yes, and in many contexts it’s actually more typical Spanish:
- La respiración profunda ayuda a los pulmones y relaja el pecho.
Using the definite article (los / el) is very common for body parts when it’s clear you’re talking about the speaker’s or subject’s own body. English uses my, but Spanish often uses el / la / los / las instead.
Both versions are correct:
- ayuda a mis pulmones y relaja mi pecho – explicitly “my lungs / my chest”
- ayuda a los pulmones y relaja el pecho – more generic, but usually understood as “your / one’s lungs / chest”
pecho and pechos don’t mean the same thing:
- el pecho = the chest (upper front of the body, general/anatomical)
- los pechos = the breasts (almost always refers to breasts, especially on a woman)
So:
- relaja mi pecho = relaxes my chest (neutral, anatomical) ✅
- relaja mis pechos = relaxes my breasts (very different meaning) ❌ here
For “chest” in a neutral, medical/physical sense, use pecho (singular).
Both are possible, but the reflexive / indirect-object structure is very common with body parts:
- La respiración profunda me relaja el pecho.
literally: Deep breathing relaxes the chest for me / on me.
Patterns:
- relaja mi pecho – direct object is the body part with a possessive.
- me relaja el pecho – the body part with an article (el pecho) and an indirect object pronoun (me).
In everyday Spanish, me relaja el pecho might sound a bit more natural, especially in a personal statement. But the original sentence is grammatically correct and understandable.
It’s not wrong, but it’s unusual and literary. Adjectives normally go after the noun:
- Natural: La respiración profunda ayuda… ✅
- Marked / literary: La profunda respiración ayuda… (could appear in poetry or elevated style)
For normal conversation or neutral writing, use la respiración profunda.
Both can mean “deep breathing,” but:
- profunda is the more standard, neutral, and common word here.
- honda also means “deep,” but it’s less common with respiración and can sound a bit more old‑fashioned or regional in this context.
So in modern, neutral Spanish (including Spain), respiración profunda is the safest and most natural choice.
respiración is pronounced approximately:
- [res-pee-ra-SYON] (in Spain, the c before i/e is like th: [res-pee-ra-THYON])
The stress is on the last syllable: -ción.
The accent mark (ó) shows that the stress falls there:
- re-spi-ra-CIÓN