densha ga okureta keredo, kaigi ni girigiri maniaimashita.

The train was late, but I just barely made it to the meeting.

Breakdown of densha ga okureta keredo, kaigi ni girigiri maniaimashita.

• に: destination particle
• が: subject particle
• 電車でんしゃ: train
• 会議かいぎ: meeting

Questions & Answers about densha ga okureta keredo, kaigi ni girigiri maniaimashita.

Why is が used after 電車 instead of は?

が marks 電車 as the subject of 遅れた: the train was delayed.

Using は would also be possible in some contexts, but it would give 電車 more of a topic/contrastive feeling, like as for the train, it was delayed. In this sentence, 電車が遅れた sounds like a straightforward statement of what happened.

What exactly does 遅れた mean here?

遅れた is the past plain form of 遅れる, which means to be late or to be delayed.

So 電車が遅れた means the train itself was delayed. This is intransitive: the train became late/delayed. It is not saying someone delayed the train.

Why is けれど used here?

けれど means but, although, or though. It connects two ideas that contrast with each other:

• 電車が遅れた = the train was delayed
• 会議にぎりぎり間に合いました = I still made it to the meeting just in time

So けれど shows the contrast: even though there was a delay, the speaker still managed to arrive in time.

It is slightly softer than a very direct でも in many cases.