Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Me da un poco de miedo la oscuridad total cuando se va la luz en el edificio. - I’m a little afraid of total darkness when the power goes out in the building.

Tener miedo (de…) = to be afraid (of…)
- Tengo miedo de la oscuridad. = I’m afraid of the dark.
Dar miedo (a alguien) = to scare someone / to give someone fear
- La oscuridad me da miedo. = The dark scares me.

In Me da un poco de miedo la oscuridad total, the structure is literally “Total darkness gives me a bit of fear.” This focuses on the thing that causes the fear.
You could say Tengo un poco de miedo de la oscuridad total cuando se va la luz, and it’s correct, but me da miedo sounds slightly more natural here because we’re talking about a specific trigger (total darkness when the power goes out).

What exactly does me mean in Me da un poco de miedo…?

Me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me” / “for me.”

Me da un poco de miedo la oscuridad total…
Literally: “Total darkness gives *to me a bit of fear…”
Natural English: “Total darkness scares me a little…”*

This is similar to me gusta (“it pleases me / I like it”) or me duele la cabeza (“my head hurts / the head hurts me”).
So the pattern is: [something] + da miedo + a alguien (me/te/le/nos/les).

What is the subject of da in this sentence?

The subject of da is la oscuridad total.

The underlying structure is:

La oscuridad total (subject)
da (verb: 3rd person singular of dar)
un poco de miedo (direct object)
me (indirect object: “to me”)

Because Spanish often puts pronouns before the verb and can move subjects around, the sentence is ordered as:

Me da un poco de miedo la oscuridad total…

So la oscuridad total is a postposed subject (it comes after the verb and object).

Can the word order be changed to La oscuridad total me da un poco de miedo…?

Yes, and it’s very natural:

La oscuridad total me da un poco de miedo cuando se va la luz en el edificio.

Meaning and grammar stay the same. The differences:

Me da un poco de miedo la oscuridad total…
Slightly more focus on the feeling: “It gives me a bit of fear, (that) total darkness…”
La oscuridad total me da un poco de miedo…
Slightly more focus on the cause: “Total darkness scares me a bit…”

Both are correct, everyday Spanish. In speech, many speakers prefer the second order (subject at the beginning) because it’s more straightforward.

Why is it un poco de miedo and not un poco miedo?

In Spanish, un poco de is the normal structure before a noun:

un poco de miedo = a bit of fear
un poco de agua = a bit of water
un poco de tiempo = a little time

You must include de in this structure.
You only drop de when you use other quantifiers like mucho, poco, suficiente as adjectives directly before a noun:

mucho miedo = a lot of fear
poco miedo = little fear

But with un poco, you always say un poco de + noun.

Could you leave out un poco de and just say Me da miedo la oscuridad total?

Yes:

Me da miedo la oscuridad total cuando se va la luz en el edificio.

This means “Total darkness scares me when the power goes out in the building.”
Without un poco de, it sounds stronger: you’re simply saying it scares you, not just a little.
Un poco de softens the statement, making it sound less dramatic and more like mild fear or discomfort.

What does cuando se va la luz literally mean, and why is irse used?

Literally, cuando se va la luz is “when the light goes away / leaves.”

In much of Latin America, irse la luz is a very common idiom meaning:

irse la luz = the power goes out / there’s a blackout / outage

Here irse is a pronominal verb used with la luz as the subject. It doesn’t mean the light “goes away by itself” in a literal, physical sense; it’s just the fixed way to talk about a power cut.

So:

cuando se va la luz = when the power goes out
cuando hay un apagón = when there’s a blackout (more formal/neutral)

Why is la luz singular here? Does it mean “the light bulb”?

In this context, la luz does not mean a single light bulb. In many varieties of Spanish (especially in Latin America), la luz often means:

the electricity / the power in a place.

So:

Se fue la luz en el edificio.
= The power went out in the building.

You could say las luces if you literally meant multiple lights/lamps:

Se apagaron las luces del pasillo. = The hallway lights went off.

But irse la luz is a set expression referring to the electrical supply in general, so it’s singular.

Why is the verb in cuando se va la luz in the present tense if we translate it “when the power goes out”?

Spanish often uses the present tense in time clauses with cuando to talk about general or habitual situations, even when English uses a present that looks more “future-like” (“goes out”):

Cuando se va la luz, me da miedo.
= When the power goes out, I get scared. (in general, whenever that happens)

For a specific future event, Spanish would typically use the present subjunctive after cuando:

Cuando se vaya la luz, vamos a usar velas.
= When the power goes out, we’re going to use candles.

In your sentence, it’s a general statement about what usually happens, so the simple present se va is correct and natural.

Is there a difference between la oscuridad total and la total oscuridad?

Both are grammatically correct and mean “total darkness.”

la oscuridad total = the normal, neutral order (noun + adjective)
la total oscuridad = marked / more literary or emphatic, often used for stylistic effect

In everyday speech, la oscuridad total is much more common and sounds more natural.

Why is oscuridad feminine (la oscuridad)?

In Spanish, grammatical gender is mostly arbitrary and must be memorized with the noun. However, there is a pattern:

Nouns ending in -dad (and -tad, -tud) are almost always feminine:
- la ciudad, la libertad, la amistad, la oscuridad

So oscuridad is feminine, and you use:

la oscuridad total, not el oscuridad total.

Could we say cuando se apaga la luz instead of cuando se va la luz?

Yes, but there’s a nuance:

apagarse la luz = the light goes off / is turned off (a lamp, a light fixture, etc.)
- Se apaga la luz del pasillo. = The hallway light goes off.
irse la luz (in much of Latin America) = the electricity goes out / there is a power outage
- Se va la luz en el edificio. = The power goes out in the building.

In your sentence, se va la luz is better because it clearly refers to a power cut in the whole building, not just one lamp being turned off.

What would be another common way to say this whole sentence in Latin American Spanish?

Here are a couple of very natural alternatives:

Me da un poco de miedo quedarme a oscuras cuando se va la luz en el edificio.
(“It scares me a little to be left in the dark when the power goes out in the building.”)
Me da algo de miedo la oscuridad total cuando hay un apagón en el edificio.
(“Total darkness during a blackout in the building makes me a bit afraid.”)

All of these are normal, idiomatic ways to express the same idea in Latin American Spanish.