Breakdown of Después de una semana de trabajo intensivo, mi espalda agradece las posturas y estiramientos de yoga.
Questions & Answers about Después de una semana de trabajo intensivo, mi espalda agradece las posturas y estiramientos de yoga.
In Spanish, when después is followed by a noun or an infinitive verb, you normally add de:
- después de una semana = after a week
- después de trabajar = after working
If you use después on its own, it usually works more like “later / afterwards”, not “after [something]”:
- Primero trabajo y después hago yoga.
First I work and afterwards I do yoga.
So here, because it’s after a week, you need después de.
Yes. Tras is a fully correct synonym of después de in this context:
- Tras una semana de trabajo intensivo, mi espalda agradece…
It sounds slightly more formal or literary than después de, but it’s natural in Peninsular Spanish. In everyday speech, después de is more common.
Both are possible, but they don’t focus on exactly the same thing:
una semana de trabajo intensivo
Literally: a week of intensive work.
The emphasis is on the work being intensive.una semana intensiva de trabajo
Literally: an intensive week of work.
The emphasis is on the week as an intense period.
In real usage, una semana de trabajo intensivo is very natural and clear here, which is why it’s used. The pattern [period of time] de [noun] intensivo is very common:
un día de estudio intensivo, un mes de entrenamiento intensivo, etc.
Both are correct, but there’s a nuance:
trabajo intenso
Tends to mean the work feels strong, demanding, tiring. More subjective, like hard work / intense work.trabajo intensivo
Often suggests long hours, high frequency, sustained effort, sometimes almost like a schedule: intensive work, concentrated work over a short period.
In this sentence, trabajo intensivo fits well because it suggests a week loaded with lots of work, not just emotionally “intense” work.
Yes. Spanish often personifies body parts like this, and it’s perfectly natural:
Mis ojos agradecen la luz natural.
My eyes appreciate natural light.Mi piel agradece la crema hidratante.
My skin appreciates the moisturizer.
So mi espalda agradece works just like my back appreciates in English. It’s a metaphorical way to say “my back feels relief and benefit from…” and is very idiomatic.
It’s metaphorical in the sense that your back can’t literally “be grateful,” but this kind of metaphor is very normal in Spanish.
It’s roughly equivalent to natural English expressions like:
- My back really appreciates those yoga stretches.
- My back is grateful for those yoga poses.
So it’s not strange or poetic; it’s standard, everyday figurative language.
In many contexts, Spanish prefers the (definite article) where English uses my, especially with body parts:
- Me duele la espalda. = My back hurts.
- Me lavé las manos. = I washed my hands.
But mi espalda is also perfectly correct, especially when you’re emphasizing your own back and its reaction.
In this sentence, mi espalda agradece… sounds natural because you’re personalizing it: my back (specifically) appreciates/needs this.
La espalda agradece… would sound a bit more generic, like “the back in general appreciates…”.
Here agradecer is used in its common transitive pattern:
- agradecer algo (a alguien) = to be grateful for / to appreciate something (to someone)
In this sentence:
- mi espalda = subject
- agradece = verb
- las posturas y estiramientos de yoga = direct object (what it appreciates)
You’d only add a if you explicitly mentioned the person being thanked:
- Agradezco las clases de yoga a mi profesora.
I’m thankful to my teacher for the yoga classes.
So mi espalda agradece las posturas y estiramientos de yoga is exactly “my back appreciates the yoga poses and stretches.”
That sounds strange in Spanish. It would literally mean:
“my back thanks me for the yoga poses and stretches”, with me as the indirect object (the person being thanked).
Normally, we don’t put me there, because you’re not the one being thanked; your back is simply benefiting from the poses. The natural pattern is:
- Mi espalda agradece las posturas y estiramientos de yoga.
Spanish often uses the present tense for:
- Current, immediate feelings or states, even if they are the result of a recent action.
- General, repeated situations.
In this sentence, it can be understood as:
- Right now, after this week, my back appreciates those yoga poses.
- Or even whenever I’ve had a week like this, my back appreciates… (habitual).
If you used agradeció, it would sound more like one specific, completed event in the past, a bit more narrative:
- Después de aquella semana de trabajo intensivo, mi espalda agradeció…
After that week of intensive work, my back appreciated…
For a general, natural comment like this, agradece (present) is best.
Spanish often uses one article for two or more coordinated nouns when they are grouped as a single category:
- las posturas y estiramientos de yoga
the yoga poses and stretches
Using las … y los … is also grammatically correct:
- las posturas y los estiramientos de yoga
The version with one article sounds more compact and natural when you’re listing two closely related things as one set, which is the case here.
- posturas (de yoga) = yoga poses, positions you hold (asanas).
- estiramientos = stretches, movements where you lengthen muscles, often more dynamic or specifically aimed at stretching.
In yoga, you often both adopt a posture and stretch, so saying posturas y estiramientos emphasizes both the poses themselves and the stretching effect they have.
In modern Spanish, it’s very common to specify things using de + noun, especially for activities, sports, and disciplines:
- posturas de yoga = yoga poses
- clases de yoga = yoga classes
- ejercicios de respiración = breathing exercises
There are adjectives like yóguico/yóguica, but they are much less common in everyday speech. Posturas y estiramientos de yoga sounds the most natural and neutral.
Both possibilities exist:
- hacer yoga
- hacer el yoga
But in modern everyday Spanish (including in Spain), yoga is usually treated like an activity/sport and used without the article:
- Practico yoga.
- Me gusta hacer yoga.
In this sentence, de yoga is the standard, most natural form. Adding the article would sound unusual:
las posturas y estiramientos del yoga is grammatically possible but much less common and sounds more technical or philosophical (as in “of the discipline of Yoga” rather than just exercise).