Ayer no pude descolgar porque estaba en una reunión y apenas tenía cobertura.

Because pude is the preterite of poder, and here it refers to a specific completed situation in the past: yesterday, at that moment, the speaker was not able to answer.

• Ayer no pude descolgar = yesterday I couldn’t answer
• No podía descolgar would sound more like I wasn’t able to answer / I couldn’t be answering in a more ongoing or descriptive sense

In this sentence, pude fits better because the speaker is talking about one concrete occasion.

They describe the background circumstances around the main event.

• no pude descolgar = the main event
• estaba en una reunión = background situation
• apenas tenía cobertura = another background condition

In Spanish, the imperfect is very often used for things that were ongoing, descriptive, or setting the scene in the past.

So the sentence is structured like this:

• Main action: I couldn’t answer
• Background: because I was in a meeting and barely had signal

Here, descolgar means to answer the phone. This is very common in Spain.

Originally, descolgar literally means something like to take down or to unhook. That literal idea comes from older telephones, where you physically lifted the receiver.

So in Spain:

• descolgar el teléfono = to pick up / answer the phone
• no pude descolgar = I couldn’t answer

In many other varieties of Spanish, learners are more likely to hear:

• contestar
• responder
• atender el teléfono

But descolgar is very natural in Spain.

No. In this context, you can leave it out because it is understood.

• No pude descolgar is a perfectly natural way to say I couldn’t answer
• No pude descolgar el teléfono is also possible, but it sounds less natural in everyday conversation if the context is already clear

Spanish often leaves out words when the meaning is obvious from the situation.

Here apenas means hardly, barely, or scarcely.

So:

• apenas tenía cobertura = I barely had any signal / I hardly had any coverage

It suggests the phone signal was very weak.

A useful comparison:

• apenas tenía cobertura = I barely had signal
• no tenía cobertura = I had no signal at all

So apenas softens it slightly: not necessarily zero, but almost none.

In this sentence, cobertura means mobile phone signal / network coverage.

In Spain, tener cobertura is the normal way to talk about having signal on your phone.

Examples:

• Aquí no tengo cobertura. = I don’t have signal here.
• Hay muy poca cobertura. = There’s very little signal.
• Apenas tenía cobertura. = I barely had signal.

Even though cobertura can mean coverage in other contexts too, with phones it usually means signal strength.

Because porque is the conjunction meaning because.

• porque = because
• por qué = why

So in this sentence:

• No pude descolgar porque estaba en una reunión = I couldn’t answer because I was in a meeting

If you turned it into a question, then you would use por qué:

• ¿Por qué no pudiste descolgar? = Why couldn’t you answer?

Because in Spanish, you normally say estar en una reunión to mean to be in a meeting.

The article una is part of the normal expression. Spanish usually needs that article here, whereas English often drops it.

Compare:

• English: I’m in a meeting
• Spanish: Estoy en una reunión

Without una, the phrase would sound unnatural in most normal situations.

Because Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

• pude already tells us the subject is I
• estaba and tenía continue referring to that same speaker

So:

• Ayer no pude descolgar... = perfectly natural
• Ayer yo no pude descolgar... = possible, but only if you want emphasis or contrast

For example, yo might be used if you were contrasting yourself with someone else:

• Yo no pude descolgar, pero Ana sí.

Because that is one of the most common patterns in Spanish past narration.

Spanish often uses:

• preterite for the main event
• imperfect for the surrounding circumstances

That is exactly what happens here:

• no pude = completed event
• estaba = ongoing background
• tenía = ongoing background

This combination is very natural and very important to get used to.

Yes, but it would not mean exactly the same thing.

• No pude descolgar focuses on a specific failed attempt or occasion
• No podía descolgar focuses more on the ongoing inability

So:

• Ayer no pude descolgar = yesterday I couldn’t answer
• Ayer no podía descolgar = yesterday I wasn’t able to answer / I couldn’t answer, with more emphasis on the situation being ongoing

In this sentence, pude is the more natural choice because the speaker is explaining one specific missed call or moment.

It is especially common in Spain, yes. That is why it stands out in this sentence.

A learner who knows Latin American Spanish might expect:

• contestar
• responder
• atender

In Spain, descolgar is very normal in phone-related contexts.

So if you are learning Spanish from Spain, this is a very useful everyday verb to know.

Yes. They are very close in meaning.

• apenas tenía cobertura = I barely had signal
• casi no tenía cobertura = I almost didn’t have any signal / I hardly had any signal

Both are natural. Apenas is a little more compact and can sound slightly more emphatic or idiomatic, but the difference is small in everyday use.

Ayer means yesterday, and it places the whole situation in a clear past time frame.

That time marker also helps explain why the sentence uses past tenses:

• pude
• estaba
• tenía

Putting ayer at the beginning is very natural because it sets the scene immediately.

You could also say:

• No pude descolgar ayer porque estaba en una reunión...

But starting with Ayer sounds very normal and often slightly more narrative.

Because the speaker is giving a second reason or circumstance.

• porque estaba en una reunión
• y apenas tenía cobertura

So the sentence means the speaker couldn’t answer for two connected reasons:

1. they were in a meeting
2. they barely had signal

The y simply links those two pieces of information.