Después del apagón, mi madre revisó el alargador y dijo que quizá habría que cambiarlo.

Because de + el normally contracts to del in Spanish.

So:

• después de el apagón → incorrect
• después del apagón → correct

This contraction happens almost every time with de + el. A very common parallel is:

• la puerta del coche
• vengo del supermercado

One important exception is when El is part of a proper name, such as de El Escorial.

Apagón usually means a power cut / blackout.

It comes from the verb apagar, meaning to switch off or to turn off, but apagón is a noun and often refers specifically to an electricity outage.

In Spain, you might also hear:

• corte de luz = power cut
• apagón = blackout, outage

Depending on context, apagón can sound a bit stronger or more event-like than just any brief interruption.

Revisó is the preterite, which is used for a completed action in the past.

Here, the sentence presents a sequence of finished events:

1. the blackout happened
2. her mother checked the extension lead
3. she said something

So revisó fits well because it marks a single completed action: she checked / inspected it.

If you said revisaba, that would usually suggest:

• an ongoing action in the past,
• background description,
• or something habitual.

For example:

• Mi madre revisaba el alargador cuando volvió la luz.
  = She was checking the extension lead when the power came back.

But in your sentence, the action is just presented as one completed step, so revisó is the natural choice.

Yes, alargador is a very Spain-friendly word for an extension lead / extension cord.

Depending on region, Spanish speakers may use different words, such as:

• alargador
• cable alargador
• extensión (more common in many Latin American varieties)

In Spain, alargador sounds very normal. Just note that regleta is related but not always exactly the same thing: a regleta is often a power strip with multiple sockets.

So in this sentence, alargador is a very natural Spain-Spanish choice.

Because Spanish often leaves subject pronouns out when they are clear from the verb or from context.

Here:

• revisó already tells you it is he/she/you-formal checked
• dijo already tells you he/she/you-formal said

Since mi madre is explicitly mentioned, there is no need to repeat ella.

So Spanish prefers:

• mi madre revisó... y dijo...

rather than:

• mi madre revisó... y ella dijo...

Adding ella would usually give extra emphasis, contrast, or clarification.

Dijo que introduces reported speech or reported thought.

It is equivalent to she said that...

So the structure is:

• dijo = she said
• que = that

Together:

• dijo que quizá habría que cambiarlo
  = she said that maybe it would be necessary to replace it

In Spanish, que is very commonly used after verbs like:

• decir
• pensar
• creer
• saber

to introduce a clause.

Habría que is an impersonal structure meaning something like:

• it would be necessary to
• one would have to
• it might be a good idea to
• we’d probably need to

It comes from haber que + infinitive, which expresses necessity in a general, impersonal way.

Compare:

• hay que cambiarlo = it’s necessary to change it / we have to change it
• había que cambiarlo = it was necessary to change it
• habría que cambiarlo = it would be necessary to change it / we’d probably need to change it

This structure does not say who specifically has to do it. It leaves the subject general or unspecified.

Because habría que sounds less direct, more tentative, and more cautious than hay que.

Compare the nuance:

• hay que cambiarlo = we have to change it
• habría que cambiarlo = we’d probably need to change it / it might need replacing

In your sentence, the mother is not making a firm decision. She is speaking cautiously after checking the extension lead, so the conditional fits very well.

This is a very common use of the conditional in Spanish: it softens statements and suggestions.

Yes, quizá (or quizás) can be followed by either the indicative or the subjunctive, depending on how certain or tentative the speaker wants to sound.

But in this sentence, the verb phrase is habría que, which is already in the conditional and already sounds tentative. That works very naturally after quizá.

So:

• quizá hay que cambiarlo = maybe it needs changing
• quizá haya que cambiarlo = maybe it may be necessary to change it
• quizá habría que cambiarlo = maybe it would be necessary to change it

All are possible in the right context, but quizá habría que sounds especially cautious and non-committal.

So the key point is: quizá does not force one single verb form.

Not automatically.

In English, we often say things like:

• She said that it would be necessary...
• She said that it was...
• She said that she had...

Spanish does have sequence patterns, but it does not mechanically backshift everything after a past reporting verb.

In this sentence, habría que is used because that is the meaning the speaker wants: a tentative necessity. It is not just there because dijo is in the past.

So the tense in the subordinate clause depends mainly on the intended meaning, not on a rigid backshift rule.

Cambiarlo is:

• cambiar = to change / replace
• lo = it

So cambiarlo means to change it or to replace it.

Here, lo refers back to el alargador, which is masculine singular. That is why the pronoun is lo.

Compare:

• el alargador → cambiarlo
• la bombilla → cambiarla
• los cables → cambiarlos
• las pilas → cambiarlas

Spanish often attaches object pronouns to infinitives, so cambiarlo is completely normal.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are correct:

• quizá habría que cambiar el alargador
• quizá habría que cambiarlo

Using lo avoids repeating el alargador, so it sounds smoother and more natural once the object has already been mentioned.

Spanish often prefers the pronoun when the reference is clear.

Yes, it is important.

Revisó with the accent is the third-person singular preterite:

• yo reviso = I check
• él/ella revisó = he/she checked

Without the accent, reviso, it would mean:

• I check / I am checking

So the accent changes both the pronunciation and the meaning.

The same idea applies elsewhere in Spanish: accent marks can distinguish forms that would otherwise look very similar.

Because Después del apagón is an introductory time phrase, and Spanish often sets that off with a comma, especially in careful written style.

So the comma helps show that this opening phrase gives the time/background for the main action:

• Después del apagón, mi madre revisó...

In shorter sentences, punctuation can sometimes vary, but this comma is very natural and clear. It is especially common when the introductory phrase comes first and is more than very minimal.

Yes. Quizá and quizás both mean maybe / perhaps.

In most contexts, they are interchangeable:

• quizá habría que cambiarlo
• quizás habría que cambiarlo

The choice is mostly stylistic or personal. Quizá is slightly shorter, but both are standard and common.