Ya habíamos pasado ese cruce, así que seguimos recto sin preocupaciones.

We had already passed that crossing, so we went straight without worries.

Breakdown of Ya habíamos pasado ese cruce, así que seguimos recto sin preocupaciones.

• nosotros: we
• así que: so
• pasar: to pass
• ese: that
• sin: without
• haber: to have
• ya: already
• recto: straight
• el cruce: the crossing
• seguir: to follow, to continue
• la preocupación: the worry

Questions & Answers about Ya habíamos pasado ese cruce, así que seguimos recto sin preocupaciones.

Why is the pluperfect habíamos pasado used instead of the simple past?

In Spanish the pluperfect (pretérito pluscuamperfecto) shows that one past action happened before another. Here, passing the intersection happened before continuing straight, so habíamos pasado literally means “we had passed.” If you used the simple past (pasamos), it’d just state the past action without emphasizing that sequence.

What does ya add in ya habíamos pasado?

Ya means already and emphasizes that the action was completed by that moment. Without ya, the sentence still works but loses that nuance of “we had already passed that intersection.”

Why is así que used, and can it be replaced?

Así que means so/therefore and introduces the result. You can replace it with entonces, por lo tanto or así pues, but así que is very common in everyday Latin American Spanish.

Why seguimos recto instead of fuimos recto or continuamos recto?

Using seguir (seguimos) plus an adverb like recto means “we continued straight.” Ir recto isn’t idiomatic here, and continuamos recto sounds more formal. In Latin America you could also say seguimos derecho—both are correct.

What exactly does cruce mean, and why not say cruzamos?

Cruce is a crossing/intersection. You “pass” (pasar) an intersection—pasar un cruce—rather than “cross” it. Cruzar is used with streets (cruzar la calle) or rivers (cruzar el río), but not usually with an intersection.

Why is there no article before sin preocupaciones?

After sin (without), Spanish omits definite and indefinite articles. So it’s sin preocupaciones (without worries), not sin las preocupaciones. If you want to stress “none,” you can say sin ninguna preocupación.

Could you swap the clauses and say seguimos recto, ya habíamos pasado ese cruce?

Yes. Spanish word order is flexible. Placing seguimos recto first and then ya habíamos pasado ese cruce is grammatically correct; it just shifts the emphasis, stating the action before the reason.