La niña tropezó en la acera, pero no se hizo daño.

In Spanish, it is very common to use the definite article with nouns when referring to a specific person or thing already understood in context.

So la niña means the girl.

If you said just niña, it would usually sound incomplete unless it were being used in a special way, such as calling to someone or in a headline.

Niña means girl.

The letter ñ is a separate letter in Spanish, and it is pronounced like ny in canyon.

So niña sounds roughly like NEEN-ya.

It is important not to confuse n and ñ:

• niña = girl
• nina is a different spelling and not the same word

Tropezó is the preterite form of tropezar, meaning to trip or to stumble.

Here it is used because the sentence describes a completed action in the past:

• La niña tropezó... = The girl tripped...

A quick comparison:

• tropezó = she tripped / a finished event
• tropezaba = she was tripping / she used to trip / ongoing or repeated in the past

So tropezó fits because this is one specific event.

The accent mark shows which syllable is stressed.

• tropezó is stressed on the last syllable: tro-pe-ZÓ

It also helps distinguish the past tense form from other forms:

• tropiezo = I trip / stumble
• tropezó = he/she tripped

So the accent is both a pronunciation guide and part of the correct spelling.

Good question. Spanish can express this idea in slightly different ways.

• tropezar con algo = to trip over something / bump into something
• tropezar en algún lugar = to trip in a place / while being in a place

In La niña tropezó en la acera, en la acera tells you where it happened: on the pavement/sidewalk.

If you wanted to say what exactly caused the trip, you might say:

• La niña tropezó con una piedra. = The girl tripped over a stone.

So here en la acera is more about location than the object she tripped over.

Spanish normally uses en for location in many cases where English uses on.

So:

• en la acera = on the pavement / sidewalk
• en la calle = in/on the street
• en la mesa can even mean on the table, depending on context

Sobre usually means on top of, over, or about, and it often feels more literal or emphatic. In this sentence, en la acera is the natural choice.

In Spain, acera means pavement or sidewalk.

This is a useful regional vocabulary point because other Spanish-speaking countries may use different words, for example:

• acera = common in Spain
• vereda or banqueta = common in some Latin American countries, depending on the region

So if you are learning Spanish from Spain, acera is exactly the word you want here.

Pero means but.

It connects two ideas that contrast with each other:

• she tripped
• she did not get hurt

So:

• La niña tropezó en la acera, pero no se hizo daño.
• The girl tripped on the pavement, but she didn’t hurt herself.

This is a very common use of pero.

This is because hacerse daño is a set expression meaning to hurt oneself or to get hurt.

• hacer daño = to cause harm, to hurt something/someone
• hacerse daño = to hurt oneself

Compare:

• El golpe hizo daño. = The blow caused harm.
• La niña se hizo daño. = The girl hurt herself.

So the se is important because it makes the action reflexive: the subject is affected herself.

Usually, yes: it means she didn’t get hurt or she didn’t injure herself.

It often suggests that although something bad could have happened, in the end she was fine.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• no real injury
• no significant harm
• she is okay

It is a very natural everyday phrase.

Yes, but they are slightly different in tone and regional use.

• no se hizo daño = very common, natural, general
• no se lastimó = also common in many places, especially in Latin America
• no se hirió = more formal or more specifically was not injured/wounded

For Spanish from Spain, no se hizo daño sounds very natural in this sentence.

This is the most natural neutral word order in Spanish:

1. subject: La niña
2. verb: tropezó
3. place: en la acera
4. contrasting clause: pero no se hizo daño

Spanish does allow some flexibility, but this version sounds clear and standard.

For example, you could hear:

• La niña tropezó, pero no se hizo daño.
• En la acera, la niña tropezó, pero no se hizo daño.

But the original sentence is the most straightforward.

A rough pronunciation guide would be:

la NEE-nya tro-peh-SO en la a-SE-ra, PE-ro no seh EE-so DA-nyo

A few notes:

• niña = NEE-nya
• tropezó = stress on the last syllable
• acera in Spain is often pronounced with a th sound for c before e: a-THE-ra
• daño = DA-nyo

In much of Latin America, acera would sound more like a-SE-ra instead of a-THE-ra.