Antes del examen oral, repaso la conjugación de los verbos más comunes.

Here, repaso is the first-person singular present of repasar:

• yo repaso = I review / I go over
• repasar often means to review material before a test, presentation, etc.

So in this sentence, repaso means I review or I go over.

It can also be a noun in other contexts:

• un repaso = a review

But in this sentence it is clearly a verb.

Because de + el normally contracts to del in Spanish.

• antes de el examen ❌
• antes del examen ✅

So:

• antes del examen oral = before the oral exam

A useful rule:

• de + el = del
• a + el = al

One important exception: if El is part of a proper name, you do not contract it.

• de El Escorial ✅

Because antes normally uses de before a noun or an infinitive.

Examples:

• antes del examen = before the exam
• antes de salir = before leaving

So antes del examen oral literally works like before the oral exam.

You can use antes by itself in other contexts, but when something follows it, de is usually needed:

• Llegué antes. = I arrived earlier / before.
• Llegué antes del examen. = I arrived before the exam.

Because Spanish often uses the present tense to describe a habitual action or something that happens regularly.

• Antes del examen oral, repaso... = Before the oral exam, I review...

This can mean:

• it is your usual routine before such an exam, or
• you are describing what you do in that situation

It does not have to mean right now at this exact moment. Present tense in Spanish often covers habitual actions just like English:

• I review the material before the exam.

Because Spanish often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

• repaso already tells us the subject is yo = I

So:

• Yo repaso la conjugación... ✅
• Repaso la conjugación... ✅

Both are correct, but Spanish usually prefers the version without yo unless you want emphasis, contrast, or clarity.

For example:

• Yo repaso, pero mi amigo no. = I review, but my friend doesn’t.

Because la conjugación here refers to conjugation as a topic/system, not to many separate conjugations one by one.

So:

• repaso la conjugación de los verbos más comunes = I review the conjugation of the most common verbs

Spanish often uses the singular this way when talking about a general concept:

• la gramática = grammar
• la pronunciación = pronunciation
• la conjugación = conjugation

If you said las conjugaciones, you would be emphasizing different individual conjugation patterns or forms, which is possible in some contexts, but less natural here.

Spanish uses definite articles much more often than English.

In this sentence:

• la conjugación = the conjugation
• los verbos más comunes = the most common verbs

Even where English might sometimes say something more general, Spanish often still uses el / la / los / las.

Here, los verbos más comunes means:

• the most common verbs
• not just some common verbs

It refers to a known group or category.

Because los verbos más comunes means the most common verbs, a specific group.

• de los verbos más comunes = of the most common verbs

If you said de verbos más comunes, it would sound less natural here and more indefinite, like of more common verbs or of common verbs in a vague sense.

Spanish often uses the definite article when talking about a category understood by both speaker and listener.

Más means more or forms the equivalent of most in this structure.

• común = common
• más común = more common
• los más comunes = the most common

Because verbos is plural, the adjective also becomes plural:

• común → comunes

So:

• los verbos más comunes = the most common verbs

Notice that más itself does not change:

• el verbo más común
• los verbos más comunes

Because in Spanish, most adjectives normally come after the noun.

• examen oral = oral exam
• literally: exam oral

This is the standard word order:

• libro interesante = interesting book
• casa grande = big house

Some adjectives can go before the noun, sometimes with a change in emphasis or meaning, but oral is normally placed after the noun:

• examen oral ✅

It is acceptable and natural here because Antes del examen oral is an introductory phrase.

• Antes del examen oral, repaso la conjugación... ✅
• Antes del examen oral repaso la conjugación... ✅

Both are possible.

The comma helps readability and creates a slight pause, especially in writing. In short sentences, Spanish can be somewhat flexible with this, but the comma is perfectly good style here.

In standard Spain Spanish, roughly:

• examen ≈ ehk-SAH-men
• oral ≈ oh-RAHL

A few useful points:

• x in examen is usually pronounced like ks
• the stress in examen is on SA
• the stress in oral is on RAL

So the phrase sounds roughly like:

• ehk-SAH-men oh-RAHL

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• repaso = I review / I go over again
• estudio = I study

So:

• Antes del examen oral, repaso la conjugación... suggests you already learned it and are reviewing it.
• Antes del examen oral, estudio la conjugación... means you study it, more generally.

Before an exam, repaso is often especially natural because reviewing is exactly what many people do.

The sentence has this structure:

• Antes del examen oral = time expression
• repaso = main verb
• la conjugación = direct object
• de los verbos más comunes = phrase describing la conjugación

So literally it is:

• Before the oral exam, I review the conjugation of the most common verbs.

This is a very normal Spanish sentence pattern:

• time phrase + verb + object + modifying phrase