El accidente mató al conductor.

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Breakdown of El accidente mató al conductor.

• el conductor: the driver
• el accidente: the accident
• matar: to kill

Questions & Answers about El accidente mató al conductor.

Why is it mató and not mata or mataba?

Mató is the preterite form of matar for él/ella/usted: he/she/it killed.

So:

• matar = to kill
• mata = kills / is killing
• mató = killed
• mataba = was killing / used to kill

In El accidente mató al conductor, el accidente is singular, so the verb is in third person singular: mató.

The sentence refers to one completed event in the past, so the preterite is the natural choice.

Why does mató have an accent mark?

The accent mark shows both pronunciation and meaning.

Compare:

• mato = I kill
• mató = he/she/it killed

So the accent is important. Without it, the word would be a different verb form.

Why is it al conductor instead of just el conductor?

Because Spanish uses the personal a before a specific human direct object.

Here, el conductor is the person affected by the action, so Spanish says:

• mató al conductor

not

• mató el conductor

That a does not mean to here. It is a grammatical marker used before specific people.