Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Por la tarde, el motor del auto falló porque el tanque se había quedado casi vacío. - In the afternoon, the car engine failed because the tank had become almost empty.

In Spanish, por + a time of day (mañana, tarde, noche) expresses a general period. So por la tarde is the standard way to say “in the afternoon.” En la tarde is uncommon in most Latin American varieties, though you might hear it regionally, but por la tarde is what you’ll learn in textbooks and use everywhere.

What does falló mean in this sentence?

Falló is the third-person singular preterite of fallar, which can mean “to fail” or “to break down.” Here, el motor falló means “the engine broke down.” The preterite shows a completed action in the past.

Why is it el auto and not el coche or el carro?

Spanish has regional words for “car.” In much of Latin America, auto (short for automóvil) is very common. In Mexico you also hear carro, and in Spain you’ll usually hear coche. All three mean “car,” but auto is what Latin American Spanish learners often encounter.

What does se había quedado mean here?

This is the pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto) of quedarse (a reflexive verb). Literally, se había quedado casi vacío means “it had ended up almost empty” or “it had become almost empty.” It describes the state of the tank before the engine broke down.

Why use the pluperfect (había quedado) instead of the preterite (quedó)?

The pluperfect (había quedado) indicates an action or state completed before another past action (el motor falló). If you said el tanque quedó casi vacío, you’d be describing the moment it became almost empty, but then it wouldn’t clearly precede the engine failure.

What role does the se play in se había quedado?

Here, se is a reflexive pronoun: the subject (el tanque) undergoes the change of state itself. Quedarse as a reflexive verb often means “to end up” or “to become” a certain way, rather than “to leave” something somewhere.

Why is casi placed before vacío and not after it?

Casi is an adverb modifying the adjective vacío. In Spanish, adverbs like casi typically come directly before the word they modify, so casi vacío means “almost empty.”

Could you use depósito instead of tanque here?

In Spain, depósito is more common for a gas tank, while in Latin America people often say tanque. Both are understood, but if you’re learning Latin American Spanish, tanque is the usual term.

Why is it porque and not por qué, porqué, or por que?

Porque (one word, no accent) is the conjunction meaning “because.”
• Por qué (two words, with accent) is used in questions: “¿Por qué falló?” “Why did it fail?”
• Porqué (one word, accent) is a noun meaning “the reason.”
• Por que (two words, no accent) is rare and appears in certain constructions, but not here.
In our sentence, we need the conjunction “because,” so it’s porque.