El ataque empezó por la noche.

Empezó is the preterite, which is used for a completed event: the attack began at a specific moment.

Empezaba is the imperfect, which would sound more like was beginning / used to begin, and it usually gives background rather than marking a completed starting point.

So:

• El ataque empezó por la noche = the attack began at night / during the night
• El ataque empezaba por la noche = less natural here unless you are describing a repeated pattern or giving background in a larger context

The accent mark shows the correct stress: em-pe-ZÓ.

It is also important because it distinguishes this form from other forms of the verb:

• empiezo = I begin
• empezó = he/she/it began or you (formal) began

In Spanish, written accents are not optional; they are part of correct spelling.

In Spanish, articles are used more often than in English. Here, el ataque means the attack and sounds natural because the speaker is referring to a specific attack.

Leaving out the article would usually sound incomplete or unnatural in a normal sentence like this.

In Spain, por la noche is the normal way to say at night / in the evening / during the night, depending on context.

It is a fixed time expression, similar to:

• por la mañana = in the morning
• por la tarde = in the afternoon / evening
• por la noche = at night / in the evening

En la noche exists, but it is much less common in Spain for general time expressions and may sound more regional or context-specific. For a learner of Spanish from Spain, por la noche is the safest and most natural choice.

It generally means at night or during the night. Depending on context, it can sometimes also be understood as in the evening, since Spanish noche can cover a wider period than English night.

For example:

• Trabajo por la noche = I work at night
• Nos vemos por la noche = we’ll see each other tonight / in the evening

So the exact English translation depends on context, but the Spanish expression itself is very common and natural.

Sometimes, but it does not mean exactly the same thing.

• por la noche = at night / during the night as a time expression
• de noche = by night / at nighttime / when it is dark, often more descriptive

Compare:

• Estudio por la noche = I study at night
• Los gatos cazan de noche = cats hunt at night / by night

In your sentence, por la noche is the most natural choice for saying when the attack began.

Yes, Spanish word order is more flexible than English, but El ataque empezó por la noche is the most neutral and standard order:

subject + verb + time expression

You could move things around for emphasis, for example:

• Por la noche empezó el ataque

This is grammatically correct, but it sounds more literary or emphatic. A learner should usually stick with the basic order unless there is a reason to emphasize a particular part.

It is the third-person singular preterite of empezar.

That means it can refer to:

• he began
• she began
• it began
• you began (formal singular, usted)

In this sentence, the subject is el ataque, which is grammatically third-person singular, so empezó matches it.

Great question. Empezar is a stem-changing verb (e → ie) in some forms, but not in the preterite third-person forms.

Compare:

• empieza = he/she starts, is starting
• empezó = he/she/it started

So the stem change happens in many present-tense forms, but not here. This is normal for -ar verbs like empezar.

The ending -e does not automatically tell you gender. Spanish nouns ending in -e can be masculine or feminine.

Here, ataque is masculine, so it takes el:

• el ataque

The best way to learn noun gender is to memorize the noun together with its article.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

el a-TA-ke em-pe-SO por la NO-che

A bit more naturally in Spanish from Spain:

• El is short and light.
• ataque is stressed on ta.
• empezó is stressed on the last syllable because of the written accent.
• noche is stressed on no.

In IPA, a Spain pronunciation would be approximately:

[el aˈtake empeˈθo por la ˈnotʃe]

In many other varieties of Spanish, the z in empezó sounds like s instead of the Spain th sound.

Yes, Spanish often omits subjects when they are understood from context.

• Empezó por la noche = It began at night

But without el ataque, the sentence is less specific. If the attack has already been mentioned, omitting the subject is perfectly possible. If not, keeping el ataque makes the sentence clearer.