Me salió un compromiso familiar, y por eso no pude ir antes al ayuntamiento.

Here salir does not mean just to leave or to go out.

In me salió un compromiso familiar, salir is being used in a common Spanish way meaning something like:

• something came up
• something unexpectedly appeared
• something arose

So me salió un compromiso familiar means that a family obligation came up for me.

The me shows that this situation affected the speaker personally. It is very natural Spanish, and often sounds more idiomatic than a direct translation like I had a family commitment.

You can think of it as:

• Me salió un problema. = A problem came up.
• Me salió un imprevisto. = Something unexpected came up.

The me is an indirect object pronoun. It marks the person to whom the unexpected situation happened.

So:

• salió un compromiso = a commitment came up
• me salió un compromiso = a commitment came up for me / in my case

This structure is very common in Spanish when something happens to someone rather than being actively chosen by them.

It often gives the feeling that the event was unplanned or outside the speaker’s control.

No. This is a very important false friend.

In this sentence, compromiso means:

• commitment
• engagement
• obligation
• appointment depending on context

So un compromiso familiar means a family commitment / family obligation / family matter, not a compromise between two sides.

Here familiar means related to family.

So un compromiso familiar is:

• a family commitment
• a family obligation
• a family matter

It does not mean familiar in the English sense of well-known.

That is another false friend:

• Spanish familiar = family-related
• English familiar = known, recognizable

This is about the difference between the preterite and the imperfect.

• no pude ir = I couldn’t go / I wasn’t able to go
  This presents the inability as a specific completed situation.
• no podía ir = I couldn’t go / I wasn’t able to go
  This sounds more like an ongoing condition, background description, or repeated inability.

In this sentence, no pude ir fits because the speaker is talking about one concrete occasion: a family commitment came up, and as a result they were unable to go.

So the timeline is:

1. A family commitment came up.
2. Because of that, the speaker did not manage to go earlier to the town hall.

Por eso means:

• because of that
• that’s why
• for that reason
• so

Yes, y por eso is perfectly natural. It links the two ideas clearly:

• Me salió un compromiso familiar = A family matter came up
• y por eso no pude ir... = and because of that / so I couldn’t go...

It is a very normal spoken and written connector.

In this sentence, antes most naturally means earlier or sooner than planned.

So no pude ir antes al ayuntamiento means:

• I couldn’t go to the town hall earlier
• I couldn’t go sooner

It usually does not mean before in the sense of previously in life.

Without more context, the idea is probably:

• the speaker wanted to go earlier
• but the family commitment prevented that

Yes, both are possible.

• ir antes al ayuntamiento
• ir al ayuntamiento antes

Both can mean to go to the town hall earlier.

In the original sentence, placing antes before al ayuntamiento slightly emphasizes the timing of the action: the important point is that the speaker could not go earlier.

Spanish word order is often more flexible than English, especially with adverbs like antes.

Because ir normally takes the preposition a when you say where someone goes:

• ir a Madrid
• ir al médico
• ir al ayuntamiento

Here:

• a + el = al

So al ayuntamiento is just the contraction of a el ayuntamiento.

You must use the contraction al; a el ayuntamiento would be wrong.

In Spain, ayuntamiento usually means:

• town hall
• city hall
• sometimes the municipal government itself, depending on context

In this sentence, ir al ayuntamiento most likely means physically going to the town hall or municipal offices.

This is a very common word in Spain. In other Spanish-speaking countries, people may sometimes use other terms too, depending on the place.

Yes, it sounds natural and quite standard.

It is appropriate in many everyday situations, such as explaining why you could not go earlier to do paperwork or attend an appointment.

It is not extremely formal, but it is polite and neutral. A speaker might use it in conversation, messaging, or even in a semi-formal explanation.

If you wanted something more direct and less idiomatic, you could say:

• Tuve un compromiso familiar, y por eso no pude ir antes al ayuntamiento.

That is also correct, but me salió un compromiso familiar adds the idea that the family matter came up unexpectedly.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are correct, but they are not exactly the same in nuance:

• Tuve un compromiso familiar = I had a family commitment
  This is neutral and straightforward.
• Me salió un compromiso familiar = A family commitment came up
  This suggests it appeared unexpectedly or was not originally planned.

So if you want to emphasize that the reason was sudden or unforeseen, me salió is especially good.