Después de la puesta de sol, miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas.

After sunset, we will look at the sky full of stars.

Breakdown of Después de la puesta de sol, miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas.

• nosotros: we
• después de: after
• de: of
• el cielo: the sky
• .: period
• lleno: full
• ,: comma
• mirar: to look at
• la puesta de sol: the sunset
• la estrella: the star

Questions & Answers about Después de la puesta de sol, miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas.

Why do we say después de la puesta de sol and not just después la puesta de sol?

In Spanish, después on its own is an adverb (afterwards), but when it is followed by a noun or noun phrase, it needs the preposition de:

• después = afterwards / later
• después de + [noun / verb] = after [something]

So:

• Después, miraremos el cielo. – Afterwards, we will look at the sky.
• Después de la puesta de sol, miraremos el cielo. – After the sunset, we will look at the sky.

You cannot say ✗ después la puesta de sol; the de is required when después introduces a complement.

Why is it la puesta de sol and not something like el puesto de sol?

Puesta here is a noun formed from the verb poner. Spanish often uses the past participle as a noun to name events:

• la caída (from caer) – the fall
• la llegada (from llegar) – the arrival
• la puesta (de sol) (from poner(se)) – literally the setting (of the sun)

Puesta is feminine because the underlying noun it represents (la puesta, like la caída, la llegada) is grammatically feminine; this is just how these action-nouns are classified in Spanish.

Puesto is also a participle of poner, but as a noun it usually means stall, stand, job, post, etc., not sunset. For sunset you have:

• la puesta de sol – sunset
• (also common:) el atardecer, el anochecer

Why is it puesta de sol and not puesta del sol?

In many set expressions where a noun specifies a type of another noun, Spanish often drops the article and just uses de + bare noun:

• sandwich de jamón – ham sandwich
• sopa de pollo – chicken soup
• puesta de sol – sunset (the sun’s setting)

Puesta de sol is a fixed expression meaning sunset. Saying ✗ puesta del sol is understandable, but it sounds less idiomatic, almost like you’re describing “the setting of the specific sun” rather than using the established lexical phrase.

Why is miraremos used here instead of vamos a mirar or miramos?

All three are grammatically possible, but they differ slightly in nuance:

• Miraremos el cielo…
  Simple future; neutral way to talk about a future action. In European Spanish, this is very common in speech for real future plans.

• Vamos a mirar el cielo…
  Periphrastic future; often used for near future or already planned/intended actions. Also common and natural.

• Miramos el cielo…
  Present used with future meaning, like English “We’re looking at the sky tonight”. This can work in some contexts (e.g. fixed schedule), but in isolation miraremos or vamos a mirar sounds more natural.

In your sentence, miraremos is a straightforward, standard way to express we will look (at) in the future.

Why is it miraremos el cielo and not veremos el cielo?

Mirar and ver are not exact synonyms:

• mirar = to look (at), to watch – an intentional action, you direct your eyes.
• ver = to see – more passive, you perceive something with your eyes.

Here, the idea is that you will intentionally look at / gaze at the sky, so mirar is more appropriate:

• Miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas. – We will (deliberately) look at the star-filled sky.

You could say veremos el cielo lleno de estrellas, but it sounds more like we will see the sky full of stars (we’ll happen to see it) rather than we’ll go out and look at it.

Why do we say el cielo and not just cielo?

Spanish uses the definite article much more frequently than English, especially with:

• Things that are unique or seen as a whole: el sol, la luna, el cielo, el mar.
• General concepts: la vida, el amor.

So:

• Miraremos el cielo – We’ll look at the sky.
  (Natural in Spanish; the definite article is expected.)

Omitting the article (✗ miraremos cielo) would be incorrect here.

Why is it lleno and not llena or llenos?

Llena/lleno/llenos/llenas must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.

• el cielo – masculine singular
• So the adjective (or participle) must also be masculine singular: lleno.

Examples of agreement:

• el cielo lleno de estrellas – the sky full of stars
• la noche llena de estrellas – the night full of stars
• los cielos llenos de estrellas – the skies full of stars
• las noches llenas de estrellas – the nights full of stars

Why is it lleno de estrellas and not lleno con estrellas?

With lleno, Spanish almost always uses de, not con:

• lleno de agua – full of water
• lleno de gente – full of people
• lleno de problemas – full of problems
• lleno de estrellas – full of stars

Con would sound odd here. Con emphasizes simple accompaniment (with), while de with lleno expresses content or quantity filling something.

Why is it lleno de estrellas and not lleno de las estrellas?

When you mean “full of [some/any] stars” in a general, indefinite way, Spanish uses de + bare plural noun:

• lleno de estrellas – full of stars (in general)
• lleno de flores – full of flowers
• lleno de libros – full of books

Using the article would sound like you’re referring to a specific, already-identified group:

• lleno de las estrellas – full of the stars (those particular stars we already mentioned)

In this sentence, you’re describing a general star-filled sky, so de estrellas (no article) is the natural choice.

Could we put lleno de estrellas before cielo, like el lleno de estrellas cielo?

No. In Spanish, adjectives almost never go before the noun in this kind of descriptive phrase, and when they do, they are short, simple adjectives and the meaning can change.

Correct word order:

• el cielo lleno de estrellas – the sky full of stars

✗ el lleno de estrellas cielo is ungrammatical.

You could replace the whole phrase with a single adjective:

• el cielo estrellado – the starry sky

But you cannot split it like English does (the star-filled sky) by putting lleno before cielo.

Is the comma after sol necessary?

The comma after Después de la puesta de sol is recommended, but in informal writing it’s sometimes omitted.

• Después de la puesta de sol, miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas.
  The introductory time phrase comes first, so Spanish punctuation rules call for a comma there.

If you invert the order, there is no comma:

• Miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas después de la puesta de sol.

Could we say tras la puesta de sol instead of después de la puesta de sol?

Yes. Tras is a preposition that can mean after (in time) or behind (in space). In this context it sounds a bit more formal or literary, but it is correct:

• Tras la puesta de sol, miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas.

Other natural alternatives for “after sunset” in Spain:

• Al anochecer, miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas. – At nightfall…
• Al atardecer, miraremos el cielo lleno de estrellas. – At dusk… (a bit earlier than anochecer)

Why does después have an accent?

The accent mark in después shows which syllable is stressed:

• Without accent, by default de-spués would still be stressed on the last syllable (it’s an aguda, ending in s), so it could theoretically be written without an accent.
• However, después is a diacritic accent case in practice:
  it’s always written with an accent in modern Spanish to avoid confusion with older or dialectal forms, and by convention as the standard adverb meaning afterwards / later / after.

So you should always write después with an accent.