Breakdown of Mi tutora dice que una vida equilibrada incluye estudio, descanso y algo de ocio como un buen videojuego.
Questions & Answers about Mi tutora dice que una vida equilibrada incluye estudio, descanso y algo de ocio como un buen videojuego.
In Spain, tutora is not just any teacher.
- tutora (feminine of tutor) usually refers to:
- your homeroom teacher / form tutor at school, or
- an academic advisor / mentor (e.g. at university), or
- sometimes a private tutor who helps you with a subject.
If you just mean “teacher” in general, the most common word is profesora (female) / profesor (male).
So mi tutora suggests a specific role: the teacher responsible for you in a more personal or supervisory way, not just any teacher.
It depends on the teacher’s gender, not yours.
- mi tutora = my female tutor/mentor.
- mi tutor = my male tutor/mentor.
Your own gender is irrelevant to the noun’s form.
So even if you are male, you still say mi tutora if the person is a woman.
Because vida is a feminine noun, and adjectives/articles must agree with it.
- vida → feminine singular
- indefinite article → una (not un)
- adjective → equilibrada (feminine singular to match vida)
Structure:
- una (fem. sg. article)
- vida (fem. sg. noun)
- equilibrada (fem. sg. adjective)
Also, in Spanish the usual order is noun + adjective:
- una vida equilibrada = “a balanced life”
Putting the adjective first (una equilibrada vida) is rare and sounds literary or emphatic.
Spanish normally needs the conjunction que to introduce a full clause after verbs like decir.
- Mi tutora dice que una vida equilibrada incluye…
= “My tutor says that a balanced life includes…”
If you omit que, it usually sounds wrong in standard Spanish in this type of sentence.
There is another correct structure, but it changes the punctuation:
- Mi tutora dice: “Una vida equilibrada incluye estudio…”
Here, you use a colon and quotation marks; you’re reporting the exact words, not using a que-clause.
In the original sentence (indirect speech), que is required.
Because decir que here is simply reporting information, not expressing a wish, doubt, or command.
- Mi tutora dice que una vida equilibrada incluye…
→ She states as a fact (in her opinion) that a balanced life includes those things.
→ This is treated as a factual statement → indicative (incluye).
You use the subjunctive after decir que when it’s more like giving instructions or orders:
- Mi tutora dice que incluya más descanso en mi rutina.
= My tutor tells me to include more rest in my routine.
So:
- reporting what someone says as a statement → indicative
- telling someone what to do → often subjunctive
Both are possible, but they feel slightly different.
Without articles (as in the sentence):
- incluye estudio, descanso y algo de ocio…
This talks about these things in a very general, abstract way: - “includes study, rest and some leisure” (as general activities/concepts).
- incluye estudio, descanso y algo de ocio…
With articles:
- incluye el estudio, el descanso y algo de ocio…
This can sound a bit more specific or conceptual, almost like listing defined components: - “includes (the) study, (the) rest and some leisure”
You might see this style in more formal or theoretical writing.
- incluye el estudio, el descanso y algo de ocio…
Everyday Spanish often drops the article with abstract nouns in general lists like this, so the original version is very natural.
Literally, algo de ocio = “some leisure” / “a bit of leisure”.
algo de + noun is used for:
- “some / a bit of / a little (amount of)” something, often uncountable or treated as a mass noun.
Examples:
- algo de tiempo = some time
- algo de dinero = some money
- algo de suerte = a bit of luck
- algo de ruido = some noise
With countable nouns, algo de is still possible, but it usually implies “some (unspecified amount of)” rather than a precise number. In this sentence, ocio works perfectly with algo de because it’s an abstract, mass-like concept.
All are related but not identical:
ocio
- Very common in Spain.
- Means “leisure” as a general state of not working / not studying, often with the idea of free time used for enjoyment or relaxation.
- Used in phrases like actividades de ocio, ocio nocturno, oferta de ocio.
tiempo libre
- Literally “free time”.
- Highlights the time itself, not necessarily the type of activity.
entretenimiento
- “Entertainment”.
- Focuses on the things that entertain you (films, games, shows, etc.), not simply the free time.
In algo de ocio como un buen videojuego, ocio suggests leisure activities in general, with un buen videojuego as a specific example of how you might enjoy that leisure.
Here como is not the verb “I eat” (yo como).
In this sentence, como is a conjunction/preposition-like word meaning “like / such as / for example”:
- algo de ocio como un buen videojuego
= “some leisure such as a good video game” / “some leisure, like a good video game”.
So:
- como (from comer) = “I eat” (verb, 1st person singular).
- como (conjunction) = “like / as / such as”.
They are spelled the same but differ in function and meaning; context tells you which one it is.
Both are grammatically correct, but the position of the adjective changes the nuance a bit.
un buen videojuego (adjective before noun)
- Very natural and common.
- Often feels more subjective or evaluative: “a good (nice, enjoyable) video game”.
- Many frequent adjectives go before the noun in this evaluative sense: buen, mal, gran, nuevo, viejo, otro, etc.
un videojuego bueno (adjective after noun)
- More neutral, or slightly more descriptive or contrastive: “a video game that is good (as opposed to a bad one)”.
- You might use it with emphasis or contrast:
- No cualquier cosa, quiero un videojuego bueno.
In this casual context, un buen videojuego is the most idiomatic choice.
buen is a shortened form (an apocopated form) of bueno used before masculine singular nouns.
- bueno → full form
- buen → used only before a masculine singular noun:
- un buen videojuego
- un buen libro
- un buen amigo
When bueno goes after the noun or stands alone, it keeps its full form:
- un videojuego bueno
- El videojuego es bueno.
Other adjectives that behave similarly are malo → mal, grande → gran, ninguno → ningún, uno → un, etc.
Yes, videojuego is the standard word in Spain for “video game”.
- Gender: masculine
- el videojuego
- un videojuego
- los videojuegos
In everyday speech people also say:
- juego (short for videojuego)
- juego de ordenador (PC game)
- juego de consola (console game)
But videojuego is the general, neutral term, and it’s masculine in all varieties of Spanish.
Normally, no. Standard Spanish does not use the Oxford comma.
Correct, standard list:
- estudio, descanso y algo de ocio
(no comma before y)
A comma before y can appear in Spanish, but usually only:
- for special emphasis,
- to avoid ambiguity, or
- in some very complex lists.
In simple lists like this, you almost never see a comma before y.
A natural rephrasing with verbs would be:
- Mi tutora dice que una vida equilibrada incluye estudiar, descansar y tener algo de ocio, como un buen videojuego.
Here:
- estudiar = to study
- descansar = to rest
- tener algo de ocio = to have some leisure
Both versions (with nouns: estudio, descanso; or with verbs: estudiar, descansar) are correct. The original with nouns sounds slightly more compact and “list-like”; the version with verbs sounds a bit more like describing activities.