Por poco llegamos sin el certificado de últimas voluntades.

We almost arrived without the certificate of last wills.

Breakdown of Por poco llegamos sin el certificado de últimas voluntades.

• sin: without
• llegar: to arrive
• por poco: almost
• el certificado de últimas voluntades: the certificate of last wills

Questions & Answers about Por poco llegamos sin el certificado de últimas voluntades.

What does por poco mean here?

It means almost or nearly.

So Por poco llegamos sin el certificado de últimas voluntades means that arriving without that document was very close to happening.

Compared with casi, por poco often feels a bit more dramatic, like that was close.

Did they arrive or not?

Yes, they did arrive.

What almost happened was this: they almost arrived without the certificate.

So the real situation is probably:

• they arrived, and
• in the end they had the certificate with them,
• but only just.

Why is it llegamos and not a subjunctive form?

After por poco, Spanish normally uses a finite verb in the indicative, not the subjunctive.

Here llegamos is the preterite indicative, because it refers to a completed past event.

A useful pattern is:

• Por poco + past indicative = almost happened
• Por poco me caigo = I almost fell
• Por poco perdemos el tren = We almost missed the train

So por poco llegamos... is completely normal.

Why is it llegamos and not llegábamos?