Hoy he comprado mandarinas y un melocotón para esta tarde.

In Spain Spanish, he comprado is very common when the action happened in a time period that is still connected to the present, such as hoy, esta semana, or este año.

So:

• Hoy he comprado... = I bought / have bought today
• Ayer compré... = I bought yesterday

Because hoy is still part of the current day, speakers in Spain often prefer the present perfect: he comprado.

A learner should also know that in much of Latin America, people often say Hoy compré... instead. That is normal there.

It is the present perfect tense.

It is formed with:

• he = first person singular of haber
• comprado = past participle of comprar

So:

• he comprado = I have bought / I bought

The pattern is:

• he comprado = I have bought
• has comprado = you have bought
• ha comprado = he/she has bought
• hemos comprado = we have bought
• habéis comprado = you all have bought
• han comprado = they have bought

Hoy means today. It is placed at the beginning to set the time frame right away.

Spanish often does this:

• Hoy he comprado...
• Esta mañana he visto...
• Esta semana hemos ido...

It is also possible to say:

• He comprado mandarinas y un melocotón hoy

But starting with Hoy sounds very natural because it highlights when the action happened.

Because the speaker bought:

• some mandarins: mandarinas
• one peach: un melocotón

In Spanish, when talking about an unspecified plural quantity, you often do not need an article:

• He comprado mandarinas = I bought mandarins / some mandarins

But for one singular countable item, you normally use:

• un melocotón = a peach

If you wanted to be more specific about the mandarins, you could say something like:

• He comprado unas mandarinas = I bought some mandarins

Both are possible, but dropping the article is very common.

Yes. Both are possible, but they feel slightly different.

• He comprado mandarinas = I bought mandarins / some mandarins
• He comprado unas mandarinas = I bought some mandarins

Using unas makes the idea of some a little more explicit. Without unas, the sentence is still completely natural.

Because melocotón is a masculine noun.

So you say:

• un melocotón
• el melocotón

Compare:

• una mandarina
• la mandarina

The ending does not always tell you the gender automatically, so it is best to learn nouns together with their article.

It means for this afternoon or sometimes for later this afternoon/evening, depending on context.

Here, para expresses purpose or intended use:

• He comprado mandarinas y un melocotón para esta tarde
  = I bought mandarins and a peach for this afternoon

In other words, the fruit is intended to be eaten, used, or available later today.

Because para often means for, intended for, or in order for.

Here the idea is:

• the fruit is for later today

So para esta tarde means the fruit is meant for that time.

If you used por, the meaning would change, because por usually relates to ideas like through, around, because of, during, or by in other senses.

A very useful shortcut is:

• para = destination, purpose, intended use
• por = cause, route, exchange, duration, general time period in some expressions

Usually esta tarde means this afternoon, but in Spanish la tarde can cover a broader part of the day than English afternoon sometimes does.

Depending on context, it can feel like:

• this afternoon
• later today
• early evening

So the exact English translation can vary a little, but this afternoon is the most straightforward one.

Both are possible, but they are used slightly differently.

• esta tarde = this afternoon
• hoy por la tarde = this afternoon / today in the afternoon

In this sentence, para esta tarde sounds very natural because it points to a specific upcoming part of today.

Examples:

• He quedado con Ana esta tarde. = I’m meeting Ana this afternoon.
• Trabajo hoy por la tarde. = I’m working this afternoon.

Both expressions are common; the choice depends on style and context.

Yes, y means and.

So:

• mandarinas y un melocotón = mandarins and a peach

A useful extra point: y changes to e before words that begin with an i sound.

For example:

• padre e hijo = father and son
• España e Italia

But here it stays y because melocotón does not begin with that sound.

The accent mark shows the stressed syllable: me-lo-co-TÓN.

Without the written accent, Spanish stress rules would make you stress it differently, so the accent is needed.

Pronunciation:

• melocotón → stress on the last syllable

This is very important because written accents in Spanish are not optional; they are part of correct spelling.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

oy eh kom-pra-DO man-da-ri-NAS ee oon meh-lo-ko-TON PA-ra ES-ta TAR-de

A few notes:

• hoy: the h is silent
• he: the h is silent, so it sounds like eh
• comprado: stress on -dra-
• mandarinas: stress on -ri-
• melocotón: stress on the last syllable
• esta tarde: stress on es- and tar-

In standard Spain Spanish, z and soft c have a th sound, but there is no z or soft c in this sentence.

Yes, Spanish word order is flexible, though some versions sound more natural than others.

For example, all of these are possible:

• Hoy he comprado mandarinas y un melocotón para esta tarde.
• He comprado hoy mandarinas y un melocotón para esta tarde.
• He comprado mandarinas y un melocotón para esta tarde hoy. — possible, but less natural

The original version is very natural because it starts with the time expression Hoy, then gives the action, then the objects, then the purpose/time phrase.

No. In this sentence, he is essential because it forms the tense.

• He comprado = I have bought / I bought
• Comprado by itself is just the participle bought

Spanish often drops subject pronouns like yo, but not the auxiliary verb here.

So you can say:

• Hoy he comprado...

But not:

• Hoy comprado...

Yes, it is grammatically correct, but usually unnecessary.

Spanish normally omits subject pronouns unless you want emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

So the natural version is:

• Hoy he comprado mandarinas y un melocotón...

You might say Yo he comprado... only if you want to stress I:

• Yo he comprado la fruta, no tú.
  = I bought the fruit, not you.

Not exactly.

Mandarina usually means mandarin, and depending on context it may also refer to fruit that English speakers might call:

• mandarin
• tangerine
• clementine

So it is a smaller citrus fruit than a typical naranja.

• naranja = orange
• mandarina = mandarin / tangerine-type fruit

No. In Spain, melocotón is the normal word for peach.

In many parts of Latin America, people often say durazno instead.

So:

• melocotón = common in Spain
• durazno = common in many Latin American countries

Since your sentence is in Spain Spanish, melocotón is exactly what you would expect.