Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): El paciente respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas. - The patient breathes slowly while the doctor takes notes.

El paciente = the (male) patient
- paciente is a common-gender noun: it can be el paciente (male) or la paciente (female).
la médica = the (female) doctor
- médico/médica changes form depending on the doctor’s gender:
  - el médico = the male doctor
  - la médica = the female doctor

So the sentence is describing a male patient and a female doctor. If it were a female patient and a male doctor, you’d say:

La paciente respira despacio mientras el médico toma notas.

Could it also be “La médico” instead of “la médica”? I thought many professions stay in the masculine.

You might hear “la médico”, but in modern, especially Peninsular (Spain) Spanish, “la médica” is very common and generally preferred for a female doctor.

Patterns:

Many jobs now have feminine forms when referring to women:
- el abogado → la abogada
- el ingeniero → la ingeniera
- el médico → la médica

Using la médico is understood, but increasingly sounds old-fashioned or less in line with current usage about gender. In Spain today, la médica is standard when you explicitly mean a woman doctor.

Why is it “respira despacio” and not something like “respira lentamente”? Are both correct?

Both “despacio” and “lentamente” are correct; they both mean “slowly”.

despacio
- Very common in spoken Spanish.
- Neutral, everyday word: Habla despacio, Conduce despacio.
lentamente
- Slightly more formal or “textbooky”.
- Often used in written language or when you want to sound more careful: Respira lentamente, Camine lentamente.

In your sentence, “El paciente respira despacio…” sounds very natural and colloquial-neutral. You could replace it with “lentamente” without changing the meaning, but despacio is what you’re more likely to hear in everyday speech.

Can “despacio” go before the verb, like “El paciente despacio respira”?

No, that sounds very odd in Spanish.

Typical position:

Verb + adverb is the usual order:
- El paciente respira despacio.
- Ella habla lentamente.

You can sometimes move adverbs around for emphasis, but “El paciente despacio respira” is not natural.

If you really wanted to emphasize it, you’d more likely say something like:

El paciente respira muy despacio.
or
El paciente está respirando despacio.

But the neutral word order keeps the adverb after the verb.

Why is it the simple present (respira, toma) instead of something like “está respirando” or “está tomando notas”? Isn’t Spanish more “literal” like English?

Spanish uses the simple present much more broadly than English, including for actions happening right now.

In English, we strongly prefer:

“The patient is breathing slowly while the doctor is taking notes.”

In Spanish, both of these are correct:

El paciente respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas.
El paciente está respirando despacio mientras la médica está tomando notas.

But:

The version with respira / toma is more natural and more commonly used, especially in descriptions or narration.
The progressive (está respirando / está tomando) is usually used when you really want to stress the ongoing nature of the action, or answer the question “What is he doing right now?”

So the sentence as given is exactly what a native would say.

Why is it “mientras la médica toma notas” and not something with the subjunctive, like “mientras la médica tome notas”?

With mientras, Spanish can use either indicative or subjunctive, depending on meaning:

Indicative (toma):
- Used when the action is seen as real, happening, or habitual.
- Here, the speaker is simply describing what is happening:
  - El paciente respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas.
  - The doctor really is taking notes at that moment.
Subjunctive (tome):
- Used when the action is hypothetical, in the future, or uncertain:
- For example:
  - Espera mientras la médica tome notas.
    (This sounds like: “Wait while the doctor takes notes” – the action is in the future or not yet happening.)

In your sentence, the actions are actually occurring at the same time, so the indicative (toma) is correct and natural.

Why is it “toma notas” (plural) instead of “toma nota” (singular)? In English we say “takes notes”. Is it the same idea?

Yes, it’s very similar:

tomar notas = to take notes (general activity)
tomar nota (de algo) = to take note (of something), to pay attention to a specific point

So:

La médica toma notas.
- She is writing down various things; it’s the normal phrase for “is taking notes”.
La médica toma nota de la alergia del paciente.
- More specific: “The doctor takes note of the patient’s allergy.” (i.e., she particularly notes that detail, or pays attention to it.)

In your sentence, it’s clearly about the general activity of note-taking, so toma notas is exactly right.

Could you say “hace notas” instead of “toma notas”?

No, “hacer notas” is not idiomatic in this sense.

To say “to take notes” (write notes down), Spanish uses:
- tomar notas
- apuntar cosas, apuntar notas (more like “to jot things down”)

You wouldn’t say hacer notas for this.
So:

✔️ La médica toma notas.
✔️ La médica apunta todo lo que el paciente dice.
✖️ La médica hace notas. (incorrect / unnatural)

Why is there a definite article in “El paciente” and “la médica”? Could we say “Un paciente respira…” instead?

You can use either definite or indefinite articles, but they change the meaning:

El paciente respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas.
- We’re talking about specific, known people: the patient and the doctor (for example, in a story, or in a hospital room everyone already knows about).
Un paciente respira despacio mientras una médica toma notas.
- We’re introducing non-specific people: a patient and a doctor. This sounds like you’re describing one example among many, or introducing new characters in a story.

The original sentence assumes these are specific individuals in a known context, so the definite article is the natural choice.

Could you drop “El paciente” and just say “Respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas”? Would it still mean “The patient breathes slowly…”?

Yes, you can drop the explicit subject, but only if it’s clear from context who is breathing:

Respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas.
- Grammatically fine.
- Means: He/She breathes slowly while the (female) doctor takes notes.
- The subject “he/she” (él/ella) is understood from context, not stated.

However, if you say:

Respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas.
and there are multiple possible “he/she” options in the context, it might be ambiguous.

In teaching examples, it’s common to keep “El paciente” so beginners clearly see who the subject is.

How do I know where to put “mientras”? Can it go at the start: “Mientras la médica toma notas, el paciente respira despacio”?

Yes, you can place the “mientras” clause at the beginning or in the middle:

Original:
- El paciente respira despacio mientras la médica toma notas.
Alternative:
- Mientras la médica toma notas, el paciente respira despacio.

Both are correct and natural.

General rule:

Subordinate clause (with mientras) can come before or after the main clause.
When it comes first, we usually use a comma after it.
When it comes second, we usually don’t use a comma before mientras in simple sentences like this.

Why is there an accent in “médica”? How does the stress work here?

Spanish accent marks show where the stress falls when it doesn’t follow the usual rules.

Word: médica

Syllables: mé-di-ca
The stress is on the first syllable: MÉ-di-ca.
The default rule for words ending in vowel, -n, or -s is stress on the second-to-last syllable.
- Without an accent, “medica” would be stressed me-DI-ca.
To show the actual pronunciation (MÉ-di-ca), Spanish writes an accent: médica.

Compare:

médico (MÉ-di-co) – doctor (male)
medico (me-DI-co) – I medicate (from medicar)

So the accent is necessary to distinguish meaning and pronunciation.

Is “paciente” always masculine unless you say “pacienta”?

No, “paciente” is a common-gender noun: its form doesn’t change, only the article and any adjectives around it do.

el paciente = the male patient
la paciente = the female patient

You do not say “pacienta”. The word itself stays paciente.

Examples:

El paciente está tranquilo. (male)
La paciente está tranquila. (female)

So you show the gender with the article (el / la) and with adjectives, not by changing paciente itself.