Talking about back pain after sitting | Learn Spanish in English

Sentence explanations

1. Me duele más la espalda después de las reuniones largas.

   My back pain gets worse after long meetings.

   Me duele

   it hurts me

   más

   more

   la espalda

   the back

   después de

   after

   las reuniones

   the meetings

   largas

   long

   More detail

   Me duele presents the experience as “it hurts me.” Spanish commonly uses doler with an indirect-object pronoun plus doler plus the thing that hurts. Here me identifies the person affected, and duele is singular because la espalda is singular. Compare Me duelen las piernas (“My legs hurt”), where duelen is plural. Example: Me duele la cabeza. — “My head hurts.” Más means “more.” With doler, me duele más means that the pain is greater than at another understood time or level; it does not by itself state the comparison point. Example: Hoy me duele más. — “It hurts more today.” La espalda means “the back.” Espalda is a feminine singular noun, so it takes la here. In this construction, the body part is the grammatical subject of doler, while me identifies the person experiencing the pain. Después de means “after” and introduces the event or time that comes before the following situation. Here, the back hurts more after the meetings. It can be followed by a noun phrase, as here, or by an infinitive: después de comer — “after eating.” Las reuniones means “the meetings.” Reunión is a feminine noun; reuniones is its plural form, and the plural definite article is las. Example: Las reuniones empiezan a las nueve. — “The meetings start at nine.” Largas means “long” in the sense of lasting a long time. It is the feminine plural form of largo, agreeing with las reuniones: una reunión larga / reuniones largas. The adjective follows the noun in this phrase. Example: Tenemos una reunión larga. — “We have a long meeting.” Together, Me duele más la espalda después de las reuniones largas means “My back pain gets worse after long meetings.” The structure is: “to me hurts more the back after the long meetings.” Spanish presents the back as the thing that hurts, uses me for the person affected, and places the meetings as the time or event after which the pain is worse.

2. Puede que tu silla no te ayude a mantener una buena postura.

   Your chair may not help you maintain good posture.

   Puede que

   may / it may be that

   silla

   chair

   ayude

   help

   mantener

   maintain / keep

   buena

   good

   postura

   posture

   More detail

   Puede que introduces a possibility rather than a certainty. It is followed here by the subjunctive, so ayude is subjunctive. A reusable pattern is Puede que + subjunctive: “It may be that …” or “Maybe …”. silla means “chair.” Its base form is the feminine singular noun silla; the plural is sillas. In this sentence, tu silla means “your chair.” ayude comes from ayudar, “to help.” Here it is the third-person singular present subjunctive form, matching silla as the thing that may help or fail to help. The pronoun te identifies the person helped: ayudarte means “to help you,” while ayudarme means “to help me.” The negative word no makes the possibility negative: the chair may not help you. mantener is the infinitive “to maintain” or “to keep.” After ayude a, Spanish uses a plus an infinitive: ayude a mantener means “help you maintain.” This same pattern is reusable with other infinitives, such as ayuda a descansar (“it helps [someone] rest”). buena means “good” here and describes postura. It is the feminine singular form of bueno; compare buen before a masculine singular noun and buenos or buenas with plural nouns. The form agrees with the noun it describes, not with silla. postura means “posture.” It is a feminine singular noun; posturas is its plural. In this sentence, it refers to maintaining good posture, not to a particular named posture. Together, tu silla identifies the chair, no te ayude a mantener expresses that it may fail to help you maintain something, and una buena postura names that thing. The complete meaning is: “Your chair may not help you maintain good posture.”

3. ¿Debería hacer más descansos cortos?

   Should I take more short breaks?

   Debería

   should

   hacer

   to do; to take

   más

   more

   descansos

   breaks

   cortos

   short

   More detail

   Debería is the conditional form of deber. Here, with the fixed translation, it means “should” and refers to “I”: “I should…”. The same form can also refer to “he/she/you (formal)” in another context, so the form alone does not identify the subject. The conditional makes this a question about what would be advisable, not a direct command. hacer is the infinitive of hacer, “to do” or “to make”. In this utterance, hacer descansos is the expression used for taking breaks. After debería, the following verb stays in the infinitive: debería hacer = “I should take/do”. más means “more” here. It indicates an increase in the number of breaks compared with some existing or understood amount; it does not mean “instead of”. Example: Necesito más tiempo. — “I need more time.” descansos is the plural of the noun descanso, “break” or “rest”. The plural marks multiple breaks. Example: Los descansos ayudan. — “Breaks help.” cortos is the masculine plural form of the adjective corto, “short”. It agrees with the masculine plural noun descansos: descanso corto / descansos cortos. The adjective describes the duration of the breaks, not their number. Together, Debería hacer asks about advisable action, más descansos means “more breaks”, and cortos specifies that the breaks are short. The complete utterance means: “Should I take more short breaks?”

4. Los descansos cortos pueden ayudar.

   Short breaks can help.

   descansos

   breaks

   cortos

   short

   pueden

   can

   ayudar

   help

   More detail

   descansos means “breaks” here. Its base form is descanso, “break,” and the plural ending -s shows more than one break. In Spanish, the article and adjective also agree with this masculine plural noun: los descansos. Example: Necesito un descanso. — “I need a break.” cortos means “short” and describes descansos. The adjective is masculine plural because it agrees with that noun; its base form is corto. The feminine forms are corta and cortas, used with feminine nouns. Example: Tomamos descansos cortos. — “We take short breaks.” pueden means “can” in this sentence. It is the present-tense, third-person plural form of poder; the plural subject here is los descansos cortos. Poder + infinitive expresses ability or possibility: pueden ayudar means “can help.” Compare puede, used with a singular subject, as in El descanso puede ayudar. — “The break can help.” ayudar means “to help.” It is the infinitive of the verb, and it remains in the infinitive after pueden. Example: Estos consejos pueden ayudar. — “These tips can help.” Together, los descansos cortos is the plural subject, pueden expresses possibility or ability, and ayudar names the action. The whole utterance means “Short breaks can help.”

5. Levántate y estírate suavemente.

   Stand up and stretch gently.

   Levántate

   stand up

   estírate

   stretch

   suavemente

   gently

   More detail

   Levántate means “stand up” here. It is the affirmative command for tú singular of levantarse (“to stand up”); the reflexive pronoun te is attached to the command form levanta, and the accent preserves the stress: levántate. This form addresses one person informally, not usted or a plural audience. Example: Levántate ahora. — “Stand up now.” Estírate means “stretch” here. It is the affirmative tú singular command of estirarse (“to stretch”), with te attached to estira; the written accent in estírate preserves the intended stress. Example: Estírate un poco. — “Stretch a little.” Suavemente is an adverb meaning “gently” or “smoothly,” describing how the stretching is to be done. It is related to the adjective suave (“gentle,” “soft,” or “smooth”), but the adverb itself does not change for masculine/feminine or singular/plural. Example: Cierra la puerta suavemente. — “Close the door gently.” Together, Levántate y estírate suavemente. gives two coordinated instructions to one informal singular listener: “Stand up and stretch gently.” The first command is followed by y (“and”), and suavemente modifies the stretching action. The utterance is a direct, practical instruction.

6. También necesito ajustar la altura de mi pantalla.

   I also need to adjust my screen height.

   También

   also

   necesito

   I need

   ajustar

   to adjust

   altura

   height

   pantalla

   screen

   More detail

   También adds this need to something already understood or mentioned. It means “also” here, not “instead”. A reusable pattern is también + clause: También trabajo los sábados. — “I also work on Saturdays.” necesito is the first-person singular present form of necesitar, “to need”: necesitar → necesito. The subject is included in the verb form, so Spanish does not require a separate subject pronoun. Necesito descansar. — “I need to rest.” ajustar is an infinitive meaning “to adjust”. After necesito, the infinitive states the action that is needed: Necesito ajustar la silla. — “I need to adjust the chair.” The infinitive does not mark who needs to do the action separately; here it is understood from necesito. altura is a feminine noun meaning “height”. Its plural is alturas. The phrase la altura uses the definite article because the sentence refers to a particular height. La altura de la mesa es adecuada. — “The height of the table is suitable.” pantalla is a feminine noun meaning “screen”. Its plural is pantallas. In la pantalla, the article and noun are feminine singular. Mi pantalla está encendida. — “My screen is on.” The possessive mi means “my” and is singular here; it agrees in number with the possessed noun, not in gender. Together, ajustar la altura de mi pantalla means “to adjust the height of my screen”: de links the height to the screen. The full utterance También necesito ajustar la altura de mi pantalla. means “I also need to adjust my screen height.”

7. Eso puede ayudarte a sentarte más cómodamente.

   That can help you sit more comfortably.

   Eso

   That

   puede

   can

   ayudarte

   help you

   sentarte

   sit down

   más cómodamente

   more comfortably

   More detail

   Eso is a neuter demonstrative pronoun meaning “that.” It points to an already understood situation, action, or idea; the supplied sentence does not uniquely identify exactly which one. Spanish also has este/esta for “this” and ese/esa for “that” referring to a masculine or feminine noun, while eso is used when no noun’s gender is being expressed. puede comes from poder (“to be able to,” “can”). It is the present-tense third-person singular form, agreeing here with eso: eso puede = “that can.” After poder, Spanish uses an infinitive: puede ayudar = “can help.” ayudarte combines the infinitive ayudar (“to help”) with the attached direct-object pronoun te (“you,” singular informal). The pronoun is attached to the infinitive, so ayudar + te becomes ayudarte. The same verb with other direct objects can be ayudarme (“help me”) or ayudarlo/ayudarla (“help him/it” or “help her/it”), with the clitic chosen for the object’s role and form. sentarte combines sentar with the reflexive pronoun te. In this context, sentar means “to seat,” and the reflexive form expresses sitting oneself down: sentarte = “to sit down.” The attached te is different in function from the te in ayudarte: in ayudarte, it is the person helped; in sentarte, it marks the person who sits. The infinitive can also appear as sentarse (“to sit down” with a general or third-person reflexive reference). más cómodamente means “more comfortably.” Cómodamente is the adverb formed from cómodo (“comfortable”), and más marks comparison. The phrase compares the comfort of sitting after the helpful action with a less comfortable way of sitting. For example, Quiero trabajar más cómodamente means “I want to work more comfortably.” Together, Eso puede gives the idea that “that” has the ability or potential to help; ayudarte a sentarte says what it can help you do; and más cómodamente describes the resulting manner. The whole utterance therefore means: “That can help you sit more comfortably.”

8. Probaré estos cambios esta semana.

   I will try these changes this week.

   Probaré

   I will try

   estos

   these

   cambios

   changes

   esta

   this

   semana

   week

   More detail

   Probaré is the first-person singular future of probar, “to try” here. The ending -é marks “I will ...”: probaré = “I will try.” The infinitive is probar; the present forms include pruebo (“I try”) and probamos (“we try”), so the stem does not stay identical in every tense. Example: Probaré otra opción. — “I will try another option.” estos means “these” and is the masculine-plural form of the demonstrative este. It agrees with the plural masculine noun cambios. The related forms are este (“this,” masculine singular), esta (“this,” feminine singular), and estos (“these,” masculine plural). Example: Estos libros son nuevos. — “These books are new.” cambios means “changes.” It is the plural of cambio; the ending -s marks more than one. Example: Necesitamos algunos cambios. — “We need some changes.” esta means “this” and is the feminine-singular form of este. Here it agrees with the feminine singular noun semana. Do not confuse it with está, which has an accent and is a form of estar meaning “is” or “is located.” Example: Esta semana trabajo mucho. — “This week I work a lot.” semana means “week,” a feminine noun. Its plural is semanas. The phrase esta semana means “this week” and identifies the time period in which the trying will occur. Putting the parts together: Probaré supplies the subject “I” and the future meaning; estos cambios is the thing being tried; and esta semana gives the time. The complete utterance means “I will try these changes this week.”

9. Consulta a un profesional de la salud si el dolor continúa.

   See a healthcare professional if the pain continues.

   Consulta

   consult; see

   profesional

   professional

   salud

   health

   dolor

   pain

   continúa

   continues

   More detail

   Consulta is the affirmative tú command of consultar, meaning “consult” or “seek advice from.” The command is addressed to one person informally; the usted form is consulte, and the ustedes form is consulten. Example: Consulta a tu médico. — “Consult your doctor.” profesional means “professional.” Here it is a noun referring to the person whose advice is recommended. It can also be used as an adjective, as in un servicio profesional — “a professional service.” In un profesional de la salud, de la salud specifies the field: “a healthcare professional.” salud means “health.” The phrase de la salud is a common way to identify the healthcare field, as in un centro de salud — “a health center.” dolor means “pain.” It is a masculine noun, shown by el in the sentence. Example: El dolor disminuye. — “The pain decreases.” continúa is the present indicative form of continuar for a third-person singular subject. The subject here is el dolor, so it means “continues.” The accent mark belongs to this form. Example: La lluvia continúa. — “The rain continues.” The first part, Consulta a un profesional de la salud, gives the advice as a direct command: consult a healthcare professional. The a before the person marks the human direct object. The conditional clause si el dolor continúa means “if the pain continues”; si introduces the condition, and el dolor is the subject of continúa. Together, the utterance means: “See a healthcare professional if the pain continues.”