La falta de comida y el calor hicieron que una chica se desmayara; luego se despertó y dejó de tiritar.

Because the subject is la falta de comida y el calor: two singular nouns joined by y. In Spanish, that normally makes the subject plural, so the verb is plural too:

• la falta de comida
  • el calor → hicieron

So hicieron means they caused, where they refers to those two things together.

Falta de + noun is a very common pattern meaning lack of ....

Here, comida is being used in a general sense, so Spanish does not use the article:

• la falta de comida = lack of food
• la falta de agua = lack of water
• la falta de tiempo = lack of time

If you said la comida, that would sound more like a specific meal or specific food already identified in context.

Hacer que + clause is a common way to say that something caused a result.

Here, the causes are la falta de comida y el calor, and the result is that una chica se desmayara.

So the structure is:

• X hizo/hicieron que Y + subjunctive

In this sentence:

• La falta de comida y el calor = X
• una chica se desmayara = Y

It means those things caused that event to happen.

Because after hicieron que, Spanish uses the subjunctive, not the indicative.

So:

• hicieron que
  • se desmayara

Even though the fainting really happened, the grammar still requires the subjunctive because it is inside a clause governed by hacer que.

If you said hicieron que una chica se desmayó, that would be ungrammatical.

It is the imperfect subjunctive, used because the main verb hicieron is in a past tense.

This is a standard sequence:

• present main verb → present subjunctive
• past main verb → imperfect subjunctive

So:

• hacen que se desmaye
• hicieron que se desmayara

Both mean roughly the same thing, but the second is in the past.

Yes. Desmayara and desmayase are both correct imperfect subjunctive forms.

So both are possible:

• hicieron que una chica se desmayara
• hicieron que una chica se desmayase

In modern everyday Spanish, the -ra form is generally more common. In Spain, you may still see or hear -se forms fairly often, especially in writing or more formal styles.

Here, desmayarse and despertarse are used as pronominal verbs.

• desmayarse = to faint
• despertarse = to wake up

The se is part of the verb form here; it is not literally reflexive in the English sense.

Compare:

• despertar a alguien = to wake someone up
• despertarse = to wake up

So se despertó means she woke up, not she woke herself up in a literal sense.

Una chica introduces a girl who is not specifically identified for the listener/reader.

• una chica = a girl / a young woman
• la chica = the girl, a specific one already known from context

So the sentence sounds like it is mentioning this person for the first time, not referring back to an already established character.

Because those verbs are in the main narrative line of the sentence, not inside the hacer que clause.

• hicieron que una chica se desmayara → subordinate clause, so subjunctive
• luego se despertó y dejó de tiritar → main clause events, so indicative preterite

The preterite is used because these are completed actions in a sequence:

1. she fainted
2. then she woke up
3. then she stopped shivering

Dejar de + infinitive means to stop doing something.

So:

• dejó de tiritar = she stopped shivering

This is a very common structure:

• dejó de hablar = he/she stopped speaking
• dejé de fumar = I stopped smoking

It is one of the most standard ways to say stop + -ing in Spanish.

Both can be translated as to tremble/shiver, but tiritar is more specific.

• tiritar often suggests shivering, especially from cold, weakness, illness, or physical distress
• temblar is broader and can mean to tremble from fear, nerves, cold, etc.

So tiritar paints a more physical, vivid picture here.

Here luego means then, afterwards, or later.

It marks the next event in the sequence:

• she fainted;
• then she woke up;
• and she stopped shivering.

In Spain, luego is very common in this sense. Depending on context, you could also see después.

The semicolon links two parts that are closely related, but each part is long enough to stand on its own.

So it works like a middle option:

• stronger break than a comma
• weaker break than a full stop

Here it helps separate:

1. the cause and fainting
2. what happened after she regained consciousness

A full stop would also be possible, but the semicolon keeps the ideas tightly connected.

Yes, that is also correct and very natural.

There are two common patterns:

• hacer que + clause → hicieron que una chica se desmayara
• hacer + object + infinitive → la hicieron desmayarse

The second version is often more direct. The original version sounds a bit more formal or more explicitly structured, because it gives the result as a full clause.