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Por las tardes hago yoga en el parque y luego una breve meditación sentada en el césped.

Por las tardes hago yoga en el parque y luego una breve meditación sentada en el césped.
In the afternoons I do yoga in the park and then a brief meditation sitting on the grass.
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Questions & Answers about Por las tardes hago yoga en el parque y luego una breve meditación sentada en el césped.

Why is it por las tardes and not en las tardes or en la tarde?

  • In Spanish, por with parts of the day is the natural way to say “in the _ (as a general time frame)”.

    • por la tarde = in the afternoon (today / in general)
    • por las tardes = in the afternoons (habitually, most afternoons)

  • por las tardes (plural) stresses habit / routine:

    • Por las tardes hago yoga… = In the afternoons I (usually) do yoga…

  • en la tarde or en las tardes is grammatically possible but much less idiomatic in Spain in this sense. It can sound more like “at some specific point in the afternoon” rather than the broad, habitual time frame.

What’s the difference between por la tarde and por las tardes?

  • Por la tarde (singular) usually refers to today’s afternoon or to afternoons in a more general way, without strongly emphasizing repetition:

    • Hoy por la tarde voy al médico. – This afternoon I’m going to the doctor.
    • Suelo estudiar por la tarde. – I usually study in the afternoon.

  • Por las tardes (plural) clearly highlights regular, repeated action:

    • Por las tardes hago yoga. – In the afternoons I do yoga (as a routine).

In your sentence, por las tardes helps show this is a habitual activity, not just something happening today.

Why is it hago yoga and not juego al yoga or practico yoga?

  • hacer yoga is the most common way in Spain to say “to do yoga.”

    • Hago yoga tres veces por semana.

  • practicar yoga is also correct and common, especially in somewhat more formal or “wellness” contexts:

    • Practico yoga desde hace dos años.

  • You cannot say juego al yoga, because jugar is only used for games and sports with a sense of “playing”:

    • jugar al fútbol, jugar al tenis, jugar a las cartas, etc.
    • Yoga is not seen as a game in Spanish, so jugar doesn’t fit.

So hago yoga is the natural, everyday expression.

Why is there no article in hago yoga, but there is una in una breve meditación?

  • yoga is treated like an activity / discipline (similar to “exercise” or “sports” in English). In this use, Spanish normally omits the article:

    • Hago yoga.
    • Hago deporte. – I exercise / I do sports.
    • Hago ejercicio.

  • meditación here refers to one session, a specific instance, so it’s a countable noun and needs an indefinite article:

    • una meditación = one meditation (session)
    • una breve meditación = a brief meditation

So: activity/discipline → no article; one session of that activity → una.

Why is it en el parque and not al parque?

  • en el parque means “in the park / at the park”, describing location:

    • Hago yoga en el parque. – I do yoga in the park.

  • al parque is the contraction of a + el parque, and it means “to the park”, describing movement / destination:

    • Voy al parque. – I go to the park.
    • Camino al parque. – I walk to the park.

In your sentence, you’re already located in the park while doing yoga, so Spanish needs en el parque, not al parque.

What’s the difference between luego and después here?

  • luego and después both can mean “then / after that” and are often interchangeable.

  • In this sentence:

    • …hago yoga en el parque y luego una breve meditación…
      You could also say:
    • …hago yoga en el parque y después hago una breve meditación…

  • Differences in feel:

    • luego is often a bit more colloquial and quick, like “then”.
    • después can feel slightly more neutral or explicit, like “afterwards / after that”.

Both are correct; luego sounds very natural in casual narration of a routine.

Why is it una breve meditación and not una meditación breve? Does the word order change the meaning?

  • In Spanish, adjectives can go before or after the noun, but the position can change the nuance slightly.

  • una breve meditación (adjective before):

    • More subjective / evaluative, feels smoother and more “set phrase”-like.
    • This is the most natural order with breve here.

  • una meditación breve (adjective after):

    • More neutral / descriptive, literally “a meditation that is short”.

In practice, both are correct and mean essentially “a short meditation”, but una breve meditación is the idiomatic, fluid version you’d typically hear.

What is sentada doing grammatically, and why is it feminine?

  • sentada here is the past participle of sentar(se) used as an adjective, meaning “seated / sitting”.

  • It agrees in gender and number with the subject of the sentence (the person doing yoga and meditating). Since the implied subject is a woman, we get:

    • sentada (feminine singular)
      If the subject were male, it would be:
    • sentado en el césped.

  • Functionally, the phrase is:

    • (Yo) hago yoga… y luego (hago) una breve meditación [estando] sentada en el césped.
      The estando (“being”) is understood, not said.

So sentada is an adjective describing the position of the (female) subject while she meditates.

Could I say meditando sentada en el césped instead? What’s the difference?

You could, but it changes the structure:

  • Original:

    • …y luego una breve meditación sentada en el césped.
      Here, meditación is a noun (“a meditation”), and sentada en el césped describes how/where that meditation is done.

  • Alternative:

    • …y luego medito sentada en el césped. – I then meditate sitting on the grass.
    • …y luego estoy meditando sentada en el césped. – I am meditating, sitting on the grass.

Using meditando sentada… would normally require a finite verb (estoy meditando or sigo meditando). You can’t just stick meditando directly after luego without a verb.

So to keep the same structure (yoga + a meditation session), it’s more natural to keep una breve meditación sentada… as in the original.

Why sentada en el césped and not sentada sobre el césped?

Both are possible, but:

  • en el césped is the most neutral and common way to say “on the grass” in Spain. It covers the idea of being in contact with it, without focusing on the surface aspect.

  • sobre el césped adds a bit more emphasis on “on top of” the grass, more literally “on” as a surface. It doesn’t sound wrong, just slightly more physical/visual.

In everyday speech about sitting on the grass, en el césped is what you’ll normally hear.

What exactly does césped mean? Are there synonyms?

  • césped = lawn / grass (as in a lawn or maintained grassy area).
    It’s the standard word in Spain for a grassy surface in parks, gardens, etc.

  • Common synonyms (more frequent in Latin America, but understood in Spain):

    • pasto
    • grama
    • zacate
    • hierba (literally “grass/herb”; can be more general)

In Spain, for a park lawn, césped is the most natural choice:
sentada en el césped = sitting on the grass (the lawn).

Why is the verb just hago (present simple) instead of something like “I am doing” in Spanish?

  • Spanish present simple (hago) regularly covers both:

    • habitual actions (I do yoga in the afternoons)
    • and sometimes current actions (I am doing yoga now), depending on context.

  • In your sentence, por las tardes clearly points to habit / routine, so the present simple is exactly the right tense:

    • Por las tardes hago yoga… – In the afternoons I (usually) do yoga…

  • The progressive form estoy haciendo yoga is used more for what is happening right now, not for routines.
    Example:

    • No puedo hablar, estoy haciendo yoga. – I can’t talk, I’m doing yoga (right now).
Could I say Suelo hacer yoga por las tardes instead of Por las tardes hago yoga?

Yes, and it’s very natural:

  • Por las tardes hago yoga…
    = In the afternoons I do yoga… (context already shows it’s habitual).

  • Suelo hacer yoga por las tardes…
    = I usually / I tend to do yoga in the afternoons…

Using suelo (from soler) makes the idea of habit even more explicit. Both are correct; the original is slightly simpler and more neutral.