Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Después de la pescadería, compramos yogures y miel para el desayuno de mañana. - After the fish shop, we bought yogurts and honey for tomorrow’s breakfast.

But Spanish can sometimes shorten this kind of phrase when the missing idea is obvious from context. So después de la pescadería can be understood as after the fish-shop stop.

Why is there a comma after pescadería?

The comma separates an introductory phrase from the main clause.

Here, Después de la pescadería sets the scene first, and then the main action comes after:

Después de la pescadería, compramos...

This is very similar to English punctuation in a sentence like After the fish shop, we bought.... The comma helps readability.

Does compramos mean we buy or we bought?

It can mean either one.

For nosotros, the present and the preterite of many -ar verbs look exactly the same:

compramos = we buy
compramos = we bought

So you have to use context to decide. In this sentence, it is understood as we bought, because it describes a completed action in a sequence of events.

How would a Spanish speaker know that compramos is past here?

Mainly from context.

The sentence sounds like a completed shopping action in a narrative:

first, después de la pescadería
then, compramos yogures y miel

That makes the preterite reading the natural one. Spanish often relies on context when a verb form is ambiguous like this.

Why is there no article before yogures or miel?

Because Spanish often leaves out the article when talking about an indefinite amount of something, especially after verbs like comprar.

So:

compramos yogures = we bought some yogurts
compramos miel = we bought some honey

If you add the article, it usually becomes more specific:

compramos los yogures = we bought the yogurts
compramos la miel = we bought the honey

Why is yogures plural but miel singular?

Because they behave differently as nouns.

yogur is a count noun: one yogurt, two yogurts, three yogurts
miel is a mass noun: honey is usually treated as an uncountable substance

So Spanish says:

yogures for several individual yogurts
miel for some amount of honey

This is very similar to English.

What does para mean here?

Here para means for in the sense of intended for or meant for.

So para el desayuno de mañana means that the yogurt and honey were bought with that breakfast in mind.

It expresses purpose or intended use.

Does mañana mean morning or tomorrow in this sentence?

Here it means tomorrow.

That is because it appears in el desayuno de mañana, which means tomorrow’s breakfast.

If the sentence meant in the morning, Spanish would usually say:

por la mañana = in the morning

So:

de mañana here = of tomorrow / tomorrow’s
por la mañana = in the morning

Why is it el desayuno de mañana instead of something like mañana desayuno?

Because Spanish usually does not put mañana directly before a noun the way English can say tomorrow’s breakfast.

Instead, Spanish normally uses a structure like:

el desayuno de mañana = tomorrow’s breakfast
la reunión de mañana = tomorrow’s meeting
la clase de mañana = tomorrow’s class

So de mañana is the normal way to attach tomorrow to the noun.

Could you also say para mañana?

Yes, but it would not mean exactly the same thing.

para mañana = for tomorrow
para el desayuno de mañana = for tomorrow’s breakfast

The second one is more specific. It tells you not only when, but also for what occasion.

Why does Después have an accent mark?

Because the stressed syllable is the last one: des-pués.

Spanish spelling uses accent marks to show stress when a word does not follow the default stress rules. So Después must be written with the accent.

Without it, despues would be incorrect spelling.

Is the word order natural?

Yes, it is very natural.

The sentence follows a common Spanish pattern:

introductory time/sequence phrase: Después de la pescadería
verb: compramos
things bought: yogures y miel
purpose phrase: para el desayuno de mañana

Spanish word order is flexible, but this version sounds normal and clear.