Breakdown of El maestro de yoga quisiera que practicáramos las posturas también entre semana.
Questions & Answers about El maestro de yoga quisiera que practicáramos las posturas también entre semana.
Quisiera is the imperfect subjunctive of querer, but in this kind of sentence it works very much like a softened, more polite version of quiere.
El maestro de yoga quiere que…
= The teacher wants us to… (direct, neutral).El maestro de yoga quisiera que…
= The teacher would like us to… (more tentative/polite, less demanding).
So:
- quiere que ≈ he wants us to…
- quisiera que ≈ he would like us to… / he’d really like it if we…
In Spain, quisiera here sounds:
- More formal or polite.
- Less like an order, more like a wish or preference.
Grammatically, quisiera is:
- Verb: querer
- Form: 1st or 3rd person singular imperfect subjunctive
(yo quisiera / él quisiera)
It is not the conditional (which would be querría), but:
- In practice, in sentences like this, quisiera often behaves like a conditional of politeness.
- You could often replace it with querría or with le gustaría without changing the basic idea much:
- El maestro de yoga querría que practicáramos…
- Al maestro de yoga le gustaría que practicáramos…
So:
- Formally: imperfect subjunctive.
- Functionally: often similar in meaning to a polite conditional (would like).
Because quisiera is a verb that expresses a wish/desire/influence, and in Spanish:
Verb of wish/influence + que + different subject → subjunctive in the second verb.
Here:
- Main verb: quisiera (the teacher’s wish)
- Subordinate verb: practicáramos (what we should do)
Structure:
- El maestro de yoga quisiera que
- nosotros practicáramos…
So:
- practicáramos is the imperfect subjunctive of practicar.
- que practicamos would be wrong in this structure; you need the subjunctive, not the indicative.
The subjunctive shows:
- This is not a fact, but something desired / hypothetical / not yet real.
This is about “sequence of tenses” in Spanish.
- The main verb is quisiera, which is a past/“remote” form (imperfect subjunctive).
- When the main verb is in a past or “remote” tense (imperfect, preterite, conditional, imperfect subjunctive), Spanish normally uses the imperfect subjunctive in the subordinate clause for simultaneous or later actions.
So:
El maestro de yoga quiere que practiquemos…
- Main verb: quiere (present) → practiquemos (present subjunctive).
El maestro de yoga quisiera que practicáramos…
- Main verb: quisiera (imperfect subjunctive) → practicáramos (imperfect subjunctive).
You can think of it as keeping both verbs in the same “time zone”:
- Present / “near” time → present subjunctive (practiquemos)
- Past/remote form (quisiera) → imperfect subjunctive (practicáramos)
Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct, and it’s probably more common in everyday spoken Spanish.
Difference in feel:
quiere que practiquemos…
- More direct and neutral: he simply wants us to do it.
quisiera que practicáramos…
- More polite/soft, more like he would really like us to…
- Slightly more formal or “careful” in tone.
The basic content (what he wants) is the same. The choice is mainly about tone and politeness.
Entre semana is a very common expression in Spain. It means:
- On weekdays / during the work week, i.e. from Monday to Friday, as opposed to the weekend.
In many contexts it is similar to “during the week” in English, but with a more specific nuance of:
- Non‑weekend days, normal working days.
Examples:
- No salgo mucho entre semana.
= I don’t go out much on weekdays. - Podemos quedar el sábado; entre semana estoy muy ocupado.
= We can meet on Saturday; I’m very busy during the week / on weekdays.
So in your sentence, the idea is:
The yoga teacher would like you to practice on weekdays as well, not only at the weekend or only during classes.
Using las posturas (definite article) suggests that both speaker and listener know which specific kind of postures are meant:
- In the context of yoga, las posturas would be understood as the yoga poses you do in class.
If you said only posturas (without article), it would sound more generic or abstract, like “postures” in general, not tied to a known set.
In Spanish, the definite article is often used:
- With things already known from context:
las posturas (the ones from our yoga practice). - With body parts, general categories, etc.
So:
- las posturas = the poses we work on (the known set of yoga postures).
Both maestro de yoga and profesor de yoga can refer to a yoga teacher, but:
profesor de yoga
- Very common, neutral: “yoga teacher”, “yoga instructor”.
- Often used for people who teach classes, like any kind of teacher.
maestro de yoga
- Can sound a bit more elevated or “spiritual”, suggesting a person with a deeper level of mastery or a more “guiding” role.
- But in everyday use, many people also say maestro de yoga just meaning “yoga teacher”.
In Spain you’ll hear both; profesor(a) de yoga is the safer, very neutral term. Maestro de yoga adds a touch of respect or mastery, depending on context.
Spanish normally puts the main noun first, and then any describing noun comes after, linked with de.
- maestro de yoga
- Literally: teacher of yoga.
- Pattern: [profession] de [field]
- profesor de inglés (English teacher)
- entrenador de fútbol (football coach)
- maestro de música (music teacher)
The pattern “yoga maestro” (adjective-like noun before the main noun) is not normal in Spanish; putting yoga before maestro would sound odd or like calqued English.
So:
- Correct: maestro de yoga
- Incorrect/unnatural: yoga maestro
The subject of practicáramos is nosotros / nosotras (we):
- The form practicáramos is first person plural (we) in the imperfect subjunctive.
- Spanish normally drops the subject pronoun, so nosotros isn’t written, but it’s understood.
Structure of the sentence:
- El maestro de yoga = subject of quisiera (he)
- que practicáramos las posturas = what we should do
So the full idea is:
- The yoga teacher would like us to practice the postures too during the week.
The –áramos ending on practicáramos is what shows:
- Person: we
- Mood/tense: imperfect subjunctive
In this sentence, también is interpreted as:
- as well (during the week) / on weekdays too, in addition to whatever time you already practice (e.g. only in class, or only at the weekend).
Position:
- …practicáramos las posturas también entre semana.
Because también is right before entre semana, the natural reading is:
- We should practice the postures also / as well on weekdays, not only at some other time.
The emphasis is on adding weekdays as another time period for practice, not on adding “postures” as something extra. The posturas are already established; también extends when you should practice them.