Learn Spanish (Spain): Hablaron del documental por la radio. - They talked about the documentary on the radio.

Hablaron del documental por la radio.

They talked about the documentary on the radio.

Breakdown of Hablaron del documental por la radio.

hablar

to speak

del

of the / from the / about the (topic)

por

for / by / through / in (during a part of the day)

la radio

the radio

Questions & Answers about Hablaron del documental por la radio.

Why do we use por here instead of en for "on the radio"?

In Spanish, por is used to indicate the medium or means of communication. When you talk about doing something over the phone, television, internet, or radio, you use por. Saying en la radio would sound like they were physically sitting on top of the radio device.

Why is it la radio when the word ends in an "o"?

The word radio is an abbreviation of la radiodifusión (broadcasting), which is feminine. It keeps its original feminine gender even though the shortened word ends in an "o". You will see this same rule with la foto (from la fotografía) and la moto (from la motocicleta).

Why does "about" translate to del in this sentence?

The verb hablar uses the preposition de when you want to say "to talk about" something. Because documental is a masculine noun (el documental), the preposition de merges with the article el to form the mandatory contraction del.

Could I use the imperfect tense hablaban instead of the preterite hablaron?

Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly. Using the preterite hablaron treats the conversation as a single, finished event. If you used the imperfect hablaban, it would mean they "were talking" about it as a background action, or that they "used to talk" about it repeatedly.