La niña pestañeó varias veces porque tenía arena en los ojos.

The girl blinked several times because she had sand in her eyes.

Breakdown of La niña pestañeó varias veces porque tenía arena en los ojos.

• tener: to have
• en: in
• porque: because
• ella: she

Questions & Answers about La niña pestañeó varias veces porque tenía arena en los ojos.

Why is pestañeó used here, and what form is it?

Pestañeó is the preterite form of pestañear, meaning to blink.

• pestañear = to blink
• pestañeó = she blinked

It is third-person singular preterite, so it matches la niña.

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Why is it pestañeó but tenía?

This is a very common Spanish past-tense contrast:

• pestañeó = preterite, for a completed action
• tenía = imperfect, for a background condition or ongoing state

So the sentence presents:

• the blinking as the main event: she blinked several times
• the sand in her eyes as the reason/background situation: because she had sand in her eyes

In other words:

• pestañeó = what happened
• tenía = what was going on

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What does varias veces mean, and why is veces plural?

Varias veces means several times.

Vez means time in the sense of an occurrence, as in:

• una vez = once / one time
• dos veces = twice / two times
• varias veces = several times

It is plural because varias refers to more than one occurrence.

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