Breakdown of Mi seguro médico tiene buena cobertura, así que el esguince no me salió tan caro.
Questions & Answers about Mi seguro médico tiene buena cobertura, así que el esguince no me salió tan caro.
It’s natural to mix tenses here because they refer to different time frames:
- Mi seguro médico tiene buena cobertura = a general/current fact about your insurance (it’s true in general, not just that one day).
- …no me salió tan caro = a specific result of a past event (the sprain treatment ended up not being that expensive).
You could also say tenía buena cobertura if you’re talking about insurance you had back then (and maybe no longer have).
Cobertura in health insurance means coverage: what the plan pays for and how much it covers (percentages, services included, limits, etc.).
So buena cobertura = good coverage (it paid a lot / covered most of the costs).
Both are used and understood in Latin America:
- seguro médico = very common, straightforward.
- seguro de salud = also common and sometimes sounds a bit more “official” or broad.
In everyday speech, either works.
así que means so / therefore, and it introduces a result:
- Cause (stated first) → Result: …, así que …
porque means because, and it introduces a reason:
- Result → Reason: … porque …
In your sentence:
- Tengo buena cobertura, así que no me salió tan caro. (cause → result)
un esguince = a sprain (ligament injury, like an ankle sprain).
una torcedura often means a twist and is sometimes used more generally/less medically. In many places people say:
- Me hice un esguince (more medical/precise)
- Me di una torcedura (more casual)
Spanish often uses the injury/event as shorthand for the whole medical situation and its cost. So el esguince no me salió tan caro really means something like:
- “Dealing with the sprain / getting it treated didn’t end up costing me much.”
You could also say el tratamiento, la consulta, la atención médica, etc., depending on what you mean.
salir caro is an idiom meaning to turn out expensive / to end up costing a lot.
Here salir is like “come out” in the sense of the final result.
Common pattern:
- Me salió caro/barato = “It ended up expensive/cheap for me.”
In me salió, me is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me / for me.” It marks who experiences the cost.
Structure:
- [Thing] + me/te/le/nos/les + salió + caro/barato Example:
- El viaje me salió caro. = “The trip ended up expensive (for me).”
So el esguince no me salió tan caro = “The sprain didn’t end up being so expensive (for me).”
Yes, and both are very natural:
- No me salió tan caro = focuses on the “it turned out (not) expensive” result (very idiomatic).
- No me costó tanto = more direct “it didn’t cost me that much.”
Both work; salir caro is especially common in conversation.
tan usually pairs with comparisons/degree like so (…as):
- no… tan caro ≈ “not that expensive / not so expensive”
muy means very:
- no… muy caro = “not very expensive” (also correct)
They’re similar, but no tan caro often implies “not as expensive as you might think / as expected.”
The adjective agrees with the noun it describes. Here it refers to el esguince (masculine), so caro.
If the thing were feminine, it would be cara:
- La factura no me salió tan cara. (The bill didn’t end up so expensive.)
They’re not optional in standard Spanish spelling.
- médico has stress on MÉ (ME-di-co). Without the accent, the stress rules would point elsewhere.
- así has stress on the last syllable (-sí) and the accent marks that stress.
Accent marks can change pronunciation and sometimes meaning, so it’s important to keep them.