Я не успел допить кофе, потому что началось совещание.

I

Breakdown of Я не успел допить кофе, потому что началось совещание.

• не: not
• потому что: because
• кофе: the coffee

Questions & Answers about Я не успел допить кофе, потому что началось совещание.

Why is it успел and not успевал?

Успел is the past tense of the perfective verb успеть, which means to manage to, to have time to do something.

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about one completed situation in the past: there was a chance to finish the coffee, but that chance ended when the meeting started.

• я не успел = I didn’t manage to
• я не успевал would mean something more like I wasn’t managing to / I didn’t have enough time in a more ongoing or descriptive sense.

So here не успел is the natural choice because it refers to a single finished event.

Also, успел shows that the speaker is male.
A female speaker would say:

• Я не успела допить кофе...

What does не успел + infinitive mean?