Mi hermano perdió el sacapuntas, pero todavía tiene el compás en el estuche.

Perdió is the preterite of perder and means lost as a completed action.

Here, the idea is that your brother lost the sharpener at some specific point. Spanish uses the preterite for that kind of finished event.

• perdió = he lost
• perdía = he was losing / he used to lose / he kept losing, depending on context

So Mi hermano perdió el sacapuntas means the loss is seen as a single completed event.

Because the sentence talks about two different time frames:

• perdió = something that happened in the past
• tiene = something that is true now

This is completely natural in Spanish, just as in English:

• He lost the pencil sharpener, but he still has the compass in the pencil case.

So the sentence contrasts a past event with a present situation.

Spanish often uses the definite article (el / la / los / las) instead of a possessive like his or her when ownership is already clear from context.

Here, since the sentence starts with Mi hermano, it is easy to understand that these are his school items, so Spanish naturally says:

• el sacapuntas
• el compás
• el estuche

rather than repeating su again and again.

Using su would not always be wrong, but it can sound less natural if the owner is already obvious.

Because sacapuntas is one of those Spanish nouns that ends in -s but can still be singular.

In this sentence:

• el sacapuntas = the pencil sharpener (singular)

For the plural, Spanish usually keeps the same form:

• los sacapuntas = the pencil sharpeners

The article tells you whether it is singular or plural:

• el = singular
• los = plural

This is very common with some compound nouns.

Here, compás means a geometry compass, the school tool used to draw circles.

That matters because compás can also mean things like rhythm or meter in music. In this school-related sentence, though, the meaning is clearly the geometry tool.

In this context, estuche means a pencil case or school case.

More generally, estuche can mean any kind of case, box, or container designed to hold something. But with school supplies like sacapuntas and compás, pencil case is the natural meaning.

Todavía means still in this sentence.

So:

• todavía tiene = still has

It shows that, even though he lost one item, he continues to have the other one.

You will also often see aún used in the same way:

• pero todavía tiene el compás
• pero aún tiene el compás

Both are common, though todavía is often especially clear for learners.

Because en is the normal preposition for location here: in / inside the case.

So:

• en el estuche = in the pencil case

If you used a or al, it would suggest movement to the case rather than location in the case.

Spanish often uses simple en where English might say in, inside, or inside of.

Because Spanish usually drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb form perdió already tells you the subject is:

• he
• she
• or you (formal singular)

In this sentence, Mi hermano makes it clear that the subject is he, so adding él is unnecessary.

Spanish often sounds more natural without the subject pronoun unless you want emphasis or contrast.

The accent marks show which syllable is stressed.

• perdió is stressed on the last syllable: per-DIÓ
• compás is stressed on the last syllable: com-PÁS

These written accents are important because they help with both pronunciation and meaning.

For example, without the accent, the stress pattern would not match standard pronunciation.

No, but pero todavía tiene el compás is a very natural and standard order.

Spanish can move adverbs around more than English, but some positions sound more neutral than others. For example:

• pero todavía tiene el compás = very natural
• pero tiene todavía el compás = possible, but a bit less neutral in many contexts

So learners should treat todavía + verb as a very useful default pattern.