Question 1

What does sufrió mean in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Sufrió is the third-person singular preterite form of sufrir, which literally means “to suffer.” In contexts like this, it’s idiomatic Spanish for “experienced” or “went through.” So El vuelo … sufrió un retraso literally means “The flight experienced a delay.”

Question 2

Why use sufrió un retraso instead of tuvo un retraso or se retrasó?

Accepted Answer

All three are grammatically correct, but they differ slightly in style:
- sufrió un retraso (“suffered a delay”) is a bit more formal and often appears in written or official contexts.  
- tuvo un retraso (“had a delay”) is neutral and common in speech.  
- se retrasó uses the pronominal verb retrasarse (“to be delayed”) and is the most concise, e.g. El vuelo se retrasó dos horas.

Question 3

Why is retraso masculine, and why do we say un retraso?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish most nouns ending in -o are masculine, so retraso takes the masculine article el and the indefinite article un: un retraso = “a delay.”

Question 4

Why is de used in un retraso de dos horas? Could I use por or durante instead?

Accepted Answer

When you attach a measure or quantity to a noun, Spanish normally uses de:  
  • un retraso de dos horas = “a delay of two hours.”  
If you switch to a verb construction, you’d more likely use por or durante:  
  • El vuelo se retrasó por dos horas.  
  • El vuelo se retrasó durante dos horas.  
But with retraso as a noun, de is the standard preposition.

Question 5

Why do we say a Bogotá instead of para Bogotá or hacia Bogotá?

Accepted Answer

Spanish uses a to indicate the destination of movement (trains, flights, people).  
  • a Bogotá = “to Bogotá” (destination).  
Para often indicates purpose (“for”), and hacia emphasizes direction rather than arrival.

Question 6

Why is the preterite (sufrió) used here instead of the present perfect (ha sufrido)?

Accepted Answer

Spanish chooses the preterite for actions viewed as completed at a specific point in the past. Since the sentence reports a finished event (“the flight experienced a delay”), the preterite sufrió is appropriate. The present perfect ha sufrido would imply relevance or continuation into the present, which is less common in straightforward status updates.

Question 7

Why does Bogotá have an accent on the final á?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish orthography, words ending in a vowel are normally stressed on the second-to-last syllable. Bogotá breaks that rule (stress on the last syllable), so it needs a written accent on the final á to show you pronounce it bo-go-TÁ.

Question 8

Can I drop the article El and say Vuelo a Bogotá sufrió un retraso de dos horas?

Accepted Answer

In everyday Spanish you generally include the definite article before nouns: El vuelo. Omitting El would sound like a newspaper headline or a very telegraphic note. For full sentences, keep the article: El vuelo a Bogotá….

Question 9

Could I rephrase this as El vuelo a Bogotá se retrasó dos horas?

Accepted Answer

Yes. That’s a perfectly natural, more concise way to say the same thing. Here you use the pronominal verb retrasarse:  
  • sufrir un retraso de dos horas (formal, nominal style)  
  • se retrasó dos horas (direct, verbal style)

Question 10

Is retraso the same as demora?

Accepted Answer

They’re synonyms in many Latin American countries.  
  • retraso is widely used in both Spain and Latin America.  
  • demora appears more in some regions (for example, Argentina) but means “delay” just as well.

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