Derramé el café sobre la mesa y tuve que limpiarlo enseguida.

Derramé is the preterite form of derramar for yo: I spilled.

The preterite is used because this is a completed action at a specific moment: the coffee was spilled, and then the speaker had to clean it up.

• Derramé = I spilled
• Derramaba = I was spilling / I used to spill

In this sentence, the action is seen as a single event, so derramé is the natural choice.

The accent mark shows that this is the first-person singular preterite form: yo derramé.

Compare:

• derramé = I spilled
• derrame = a different form, such as a present subjunctive or a noun-related form in other contexts

The written accent is important because it distinguishes the tense and sometimes even the meaning.

El café means the coffee, referring to a specific coffee that the speaker had.

Spanish often uses the definite article where English might also use the, especially when the object is already understood from the situation.

• Derramé el café = I spilled the coffee
• Derramé un café = I spilled a coffee

Using un café would sound like one coffee among others, or a less specific item. El café sounds more natural if we are talking about the coffee the speaker was drinking or carrying.

Sobre la mesa means onto/on the table surface. It emphasizes that the coffee ended up on top of the table.

• sobre la mesa = on the table / onto the table surface
• en la mesa = on the table, but often less precise and sometimes interpreted more generally depending on context

In a sentence about spilling liquid, sobre la mesa is very natural because it clearly suggests the coffee spread onto the surface.

Tuve que is the preterite of tener que + infinitive, which means to have to / to need to do something.

• tuve que limpiar = I had to clean
• tenía que limpiar = I had to clean / I was supposed to clean / I needed to clean

Here, tuve que fits because it describes a specific consequence of the spill: after spilling the coffee, the speaker had to clean it.

This is a very common question.

• Tuve que limpiarlo = I had to clean it (a specific completed situation)
• Tenía que limpiarlo = I had to clean it / I was supposed to clean it / I needed to clean it (more background, ongoing obligation, or less focused on completion)

In this sentence, tuve que sounds better because the spill happened and created an immediate, definite need to clean.

Lo refers to the spilled coffee or, more broadly, the mess caused by it.

Limpiar means to clean, and lo is a direct object pronoun meaning it.

So:

• limpiarlo = to clean it

Even though café is masculine singular, what you are really cleaning is not the drink as an object in the abstract, but the spill/mess it caused. Spanish still naturally uses lo here.

Because limpiarlo is an infinitive + object pronoun combination.

In Spanish, object pronouns can be attached to an infinitive:

• tuve que limpiarlo

You could also place the pronoun before a conjugated verb in some structures, but with tener que + infinitive, attaching it to the infinitive is completely normal and very common.

Examples:

• Tuve que limpiarlo
• Voy a hacerlo
• Quiero verlo

Yes. Lo tuve que limpiar is also correct.

Both mean the same thing:

• Tuve que limpiarlo
• Lo tuve que limpiar

The difference is mainly one of style and emphasis. Putting lo before the conjugated verb can slightly emphasize the object, but in many contexts the two versions are interchangeable.

Enseguida means right away, immediately, or straight away.

In this sentence, it modifies tuve que limpiarlo and tells us when the speaker had to clean it.

Placing it at the end is very natural in Spanish:

• tuve que limpiarlo enseguida = I had to clean it right away

You could also move it for emphasis:

• Enseguida tuve que limpiarlo
• Tuve que enseguida limpiarlo (much less natural)

The final position is the most normal here.

Y simply means and. It links two actions in sequence:

1. Derramé el café sobre la mesa
2. tuve que limpiarlo enseguida

It shows a natural chain of events: first the spill happened, and then the speaker had to clean it up.

Yes, and that would be a very common alternative in Spanish, especially when the speaker wants to sound less directly responsible or emphasize that it happened accidentally.

Compare:

• Derramé el café = I spilled the coffee
• Se me derramó el café = I spilled the coffee / The coffee got spilled on me / The coffee spilled

The second version is very common in everyday Spanish for accidents. It often sounds more natural when something happened unintentionally.

But derramé el café is still perfectly correct and more direct.

Limpiar is a good general choice because it means to clean up the spilled coffee.

• limpiar = to clean
• secar = to dry

If coffee spills on a table, you usually clean it up, not just dry it, so limpiar is broader and more natural. Secar would focus only on removing the liquid or moisture.

So:

• tuve que limpiarlo = I had to clean it up
• tuve que secarlo = I had to dry it

The first is better for the whole mess.

Yes, it sounds natural in Spain Spanish.

A speaker in Spain might also say things like:

• Derramé el café en la mesa y tuve que limpiarlo enseguida.
• Se me derramó el café sobre la mesa y tuve que limpiarlo enseguida.

But your original sentence is clear, grammatical, and natural. Enseguida is also very common in Spain.