Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): El vuelo a Bogotá sufrió un retraso de dos horas. - The flight to Bogotá suffered a two-hour delay.

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.”

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

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.

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

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.”

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Why does Bogotá have an accent on the final á?

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.

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

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….

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

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)

Is retraso the same as demora?

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.