El otro día vi un búho.

In Spanish, el otro día is a very common fixed expression meaning the other day, that is, a few days ago / recently.

So in this sentence, El otro día vi un búho, el otro día works like a time expression, not like a strong contrast between two specific days.

A few useful comparisons:

• el otro día = the other day / a few days ago
• otro día = another day
• al otro día = the next day / the following day in many contexts

So the article el is part of the normal expression here.

Vi is the preterite form of the verb ver (to see) for yo (I).

Conjugation of ver in the preterite:

• yo vi = I saw
• tú viste = you saw
• él/ella vio = he/she saw
• nosotros vimos = we saw
• vosotros visteis = you all saw
• ellos vieron = they saw

Spanish uses the preterite here because the action is seen as a completed event: you saw an owl at a particular moment or on a particular occasion.

A learner may expect something like veí, but that form does not exist. The imperfect of ver is:

• yo veía = I was seeing / I used to see

So:

• vi un búho = I saw an owl
• veía un búho = I was seeing an owl / I used to see an owl

Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here, vi already tells us the subject is yo:

• vi = I saw

So (yo) vi un búho is correct, but usually just vi un búho sounds more natural unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Yo vi un búho, no ella. = I saw an owl, not her.

Without emphasis, Spanish normally drops yo.

Búho means owl.

It has a written accent because of pronunciation. The accent shows that the ú is stressed and helps signal that the vowels are pronounced in separate syllables:

• bú-ho

Without the accent, Spanish spelling rules could suggest a different syllable pattern. The accent helps show a hiatus rather than blending the vowels in a way learners might expect.

So pronounce it roughly as:

• BOO-o

with the h silent.

In Spain Spanish, búho is pronounced approximately:

• BOO-o

More carefully:

• bú = like boo
• ho = the h is silent, so just a short o sound

So it has two syllables:

• bú-ho

Important points:

• b sounds like Spanish b/v; in Spanish, b and v are not pronounced like the English contrast.
• h is silent.
• The stress falls on the first syllable: BÚ-ho.

Because búho is a masculine noun in Spanish:

• el búho = the owl
• un búho = an owl

Even though an actual owl can be male or female, the basic dictionary form of the noun is grammatically masculine.

If you specifically want to say female owl, Spanish can use:

• la búha

But in general everyday use, búho is the normal word learners are most likely to encounter.

The personal a is generally used before a specific human direct object, and sometimes with personified animals or pets in certain contexts.

Here, un búho is just an owl, a non-human animal, so there is normally no personal a:

• Vi un búho. = I saw an owl.

Compare:

• Vi a María. = I saw María.
• Vi un búho. = I saw an owl.

If you were talking about a beloved pet animal in a very personal way, Spanish can sometimes use a, but that is not the normal pattern here.

Both are correct.

• El otro día vi un búho.
• Vi un búho el otro día.

Spanish is flexible with word order, especially with time expressions.

The version starting with El otro día puts the time first, which can feel natural when setting the scene:

• The other day, I saw an owl.

The version with the time expression at the end may sound slightly more neutral in some contexts:

• I saw an owl the other day.

So this is mostly about emphasis and style, not a major grammar difference.

Yes, that is a very useful way to think about it.

El otro día refers to a specific past occasion, even if the exact day is not named. Because it points to a completed event in the past, it commonly goes with the preterite:

• El otro día vi un búho.
• El otro día fui al médico.
• El otro día me llamó Ana.

This matches the usual Spanish pattern: a completed event at a past moment often takes the preterite.

Usually, no, not with the same meaning.

• ver = to see
• mirar = to look at

So:

• vi un búho = I saw an owl
• miré un búho = I looked at an owl

Ver is about perception: the owl came into your sight. Mirar is about directing your eyes intentionally.

Sometimes both can fit a situation, but they do not mean exactly the same thing.

Because otro is an adjective here, and in Spanish it normally goes before the noun:

• otro día = another day
• el otro día = the other day

This is simply the standard position for otro in this expression.

You would not normally say:

• el día otro ❌

So learners should treat el otro día as a very common chunk.

Búho is the general word many learners first meet for owl, but in Spanish there are also more specific bird names.

For example:

• búho = owl
• lechuza = often another kind of owl, commonly translated as barn owl or used more broadly depending on context

In everyday learner Spanish, búho is perfectly fine as the general word in a sentence like this.

Yes, it sounds completely natural in Spain Spanish.

El otro día vi un búho is a normal, idiomatic sentence:

• el otro día is a very common time expression
• vi is the correct past tense
• un búho is straightforward and natural

A speaker in Spain would easily understand it as:

• The other day I saw an owl.

It is simple, correct, and very natural everyday Spanish.