La farmacéutica me recomendó una crema para la piel seca y dijo que la usara por la noche.

Here, la farmacéutica means the female pharmacist.

In Spanish, farmacéutico / farmacéutica can be:

• a noun: pharmacist
• an adjective: pharmaceutical

In this sentence, it is clearly a noun, because it refers to a person who recommended a cream.

Spanish often uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) more than English does.

So la farmacéutica literally means the pharmacist. In English, we might also say the pharmacist recommended me... or just my pharmacist depending on context, but Spanish commonly keeps the article.

Also, la tells you the person is feminine:

• el farmacéutico = the male pharmacist
• la farmacéutica = the female pharmacist

Me means to me.

So:

• me recomendó = recommended to me

Spanish often uses an indirect object pronoun where English may or may not use one explicitly.

Examples:

• Me dio un consejo = She gave me some advice
• Me recomendó una crema = She recommended a cream to me

Recomendó and dijo are in the preterite, because they describe completed actions in the past.

• recomendó = she recommended
• dijo = she said

This sentence is telling you about specific things that happened:

1. the pharmacist recommended a cream
2. she said to use it at night

The imperfect (recomendaba, decía) would sound more like background information, habit, or an ongoing past situation.

This means a cream for dry skin.

Breaking it down:

• una crema = a cream
• para = for
• la piel seca = dry skin

Spanish often uses the article where English does not, so la piel seca is literally the dry skin, but in natural English we usually just say dry skin.

Also, seca agrees with piel, which is feminine singular:

• piel = feminine singular
• therefore seca = feminine singular

It describes piel, not crema.

That is because:

• crema is feminine singular
• piel is also feminine singular

So agreement alone does not fully disambiguate, but the structure does:

• una crema para la piel seca = a cream for dry skin

The adjective seca comes right after piel, so it naturally modifies piel.

If the sentence meant a dry cream, it would normally be understood differently from the context, and crema seca would be a much less natural idea here.

Because after dijo que in this kind of sentence, Spanish often uses the imperfect subjunctive to report a recommendation, instruction, or command in the past.

So:

• dijo que la usara = she said I should use it / she told me to use it

This is not just reporting a fact. It is reporting what someone advised or instructed.

Compare:

• Dijo que venía mañana = She said he was coming tomorrow.
  
  • this reports information
• Dijo que la usara por la noche = She said I should use it at night.
  
  • this reports advice/instruction

It is in the imperfect subjunctive because the sentence is expressing a recommendation or instruction from the past.

The key idea is:

• decir que + subjunctive can be used when decir means something like tell someone to do something, not just say that

So:

• dijo que la usara = she told me to use it / she said I should use it

This is related to the sequence of tenses:

• main verb in the past: dijo
• subordinate verb in the subjunctive, also backshifted into the past: usara

A present-time version would be:

• dice que la use por la noche = she says I should use it at night

Yes. Usara and usase are both correct imperfect subjunctive forms.

So both of these are grammatical:

• dijo que la usara
• dijo que la usase

In modern Spanish, -ara forms are usually more common in everyday speech:

• hablara, comiera, viviera
• hablase, comiese, viviese

In Spain, both forms are understood perfectly well.

La is a direct object pronoun meaning it, referring back to una crema.

Since crema is feminine, the pronoun is la:

• una crema → la

So:

• dijo que la usara = she said I should use it

If the thing were masculine, you would use lo:

• un jabón → lo
• dijo que lo usara = she said I should use it

In Spanish, object pronouns normally go before a conjugated verb.

So:

• la usara
• lo compró
• me dijo

Since usara is a conjugated verb form, la comes before it.

By contrast, with an infinitive or gerund, pronouns can often attach to the end:

• usarla
• usándola

But here the verb is conjugated, so la usara is the normal pattern.

Por la noche means at night or in the evening / nighttime, depending on context.

In this sentence, it means the cream should be used during the night, usually understood as part of a nighttime routine, so a natural English translation is:

• at night
• at nighttime
• in the evening, if that fits the context

This is a very common expression:

• por la mañana = in the morning
• por la tarde = in the afternoon / evening
• por la noche = at night

In standard Spain Spanish, por la noche is the usual way to say at night.

• por la noche = the normal, everyday choice
• en la noche exists, but it is less common in Spain and may sound more regional or more marked depending on context

So for a learner of Spanish from Spain, por la noche is the safest and most natural option.

Yes, but that would change the structure slightly.

Your sentence says:

• La farmacéutica me recomendó una crema... y dijo que la usara por la noche.

A different version could be:

• La farmacéutica me recomendó una crema para que la usara por la noche.

That would mean something like:

• The pharmacist recommended a cream for me to use at night

Both are possible, but the original sentence separates the two ideas more clearly:

1. she recommended a cream
2. she said to use it at night

Because me refers to the speaker: to me.

Spanish indirect object pronouns are:

• me = to me
• te = to you
• le = to him / to her / to you (formal)
• nos = to us
• os = to you all
• les = to them / to you all (formal)

So:

• me recomendó = she recommended to me
• le recomendó = she recommended to him/her

Very often, yes, but Spanish uses it especially naturally in structures like these:

• recomendar algo = to recommend something
• recomendar algo a alguien = to recommend something to someone
• recomendar que + subjunctive = to recommend that someone do something

Examples:

• Me recomendó una crema. = She recommended a cream to me.
• Me recomendó que la usara por la noche. = She recommended that I use it at night.

In your sentence, the recommendation itself is una crema, and the instruction about how to use it comes later with dijo que la usara por la noche.

Yes. In natural English, both can work.

• said that I should use it
• told me to use it

The Spanish structure is literally closer to said that I should use it, but in real English told me to use it often sounds more natural.

So this is a good place to remember that translations do not always have to be word-for-word.

Yes: it combines several very common Spanish patterns in one sentence:

• article + profession/person
  • la farmacéutica
• indirect object pronoun
  • me recomendó
• noun + para + noun phrase
  • una crema para la piel seca
• reported speech in the past
  • dijo que...
• imperfect subjunctive for reported advice/instructions
  • la usara
• object pronoun referring back to a noun
  • la = the cream
• time expression
  • por la noche

So it is a very useful model sentence for everyday Spanish.