Mi hermana perdió el gorro en el autobús, pero la capucha del abrigo la protegió de la lluvia.

Perdió is the preterite, which is used for a completed action in the past: she lost the hat at a specific moment.

• Mi hermana perdió el gorro... = my sister lost the hat
• Mi hermana perdía el gorro... would sound odd here, because perdía (imperfect) suggests an ongoing or habitual past action, like she used to lose the hat or was losing it.

In this sentence, losing the hat is a one-time event, so perdió is the natural choice.

For the same reason: protegió is a completed past action.

The sentence tells a sequence of events:

1. She lost the hat.
2. But the hood protected her from the rain.

Using the preterite for both verbs makes the story sound like a finished event in the past.

If you said protegía, it would suggest an ongoing background action, like the hood was protecting her, which could work in another context, but here protegió is the more straightforward narrative choice.

The la refers to mi hermana.

In Spanish, object pronouns often replace a previously mentioned noun:

• Mi hermana = subject earlier in the sentence
• la protegió = protected her

So the structure is:

• la capucha del abrigo = the subject
• la = her
• protegió = protected

Literally: the hood of the coat her protected, but in natural English: the hood of the coat protected her.

Because mi hermana is not the direct object of protegió in that part of the sentence; it was the subject of the first clause.

In the second clause, Spanish normally uses a direct object pronoun to show who was protected:

• La capucha del abrigo la protegió = The coat’s hood protected her

You generally cannot just say la capucha del abrigo protegió and expect her to be understood. The pronoun la is needed.

Because de + el contracts to del in Spanish.

So:

• de + el abrigo → del abrigo

This is a standard contraction and is almost always required.

A similar contraction is:

• a + el → al

For example:

• Voy al autobús would come from a el autobús, but the correct form is al.

Proteger de means to protect from.

So:

• proteger a alguien de algo = to protect someone from something

In this sentence:

• la protegió de la lluvia = it protected her from the rain

The article la is used because lluvia here refers to the rain as a concrete situation, not just rain in general.

Compare:

• proteger de la lluvia = protect from the rain
• proteger de la nieve = protect from the snow

They are three different clothing words:

• gorro = a hat, usually a soft hat, woolly hat, beanie, etc.
• capucha = hood
• abrigo = coat

So:

• perdió el gorro = she lost her hat
• la capucha del abrigo = the hood of the coat

A learner might confuse gorro and sombrero, but they are not the same:

• sombrero = brimmed hat
• gorro = cap/beanie/soft hat

En is the normal preposition for being or happening in/on many forms of transport in Spanish.

So:

• en el autobús = on the bus / in the bus

Spanish uses en where English may say on:

• en el tren = on the train
• en el avión = on the plane
• en el coche = in the car

So even though English says on the bus, Spanish says en el autobús.

Because Spanish normally uses a possessive like mi, tu, su, etc., instead of an article in this kind of phrase.

• mi hermana = my sister
• not la mi hermana

This is the normal structure in modern Spanish.

Spanish word order is flexible, but this order is very natural:

• la capucha del abrigo = subject
• la = object pronoun
• protegió = verb

Spanish often places object pronouns before the conjugated verb:

• la protegió
• lo vio
• me llamó

So the sentence follows a common pattern: subject + object pronoun + verb

You could change the order for emphasis in some contexts, but this version is standard and clear.

Pero means but and introduces a contrast.

The contrast is:

• she lost the hat
• but the coat’s hood still protected her from the rain

So pero connects two ideas that go in opposite directions:

• a negative event: losing the hat
• a positive result: the hood helped anyway

Yes, autobús is completely normal in Spain.

Depending on the country, people may also say:

• bus
• ómnibus
• camión (in some places, though this can mean other things too)

But for Spanish from Spain, autobús is standard and very natural.

Yes, su gorro is possible, but el gorro is often preferred when the owner is already clear from context.

Spanish often uses the definite article with clothing and body-related items when possession is obvious:

• Mi hermana perdió el gorro = My sister lost her hat
• literally the hat, but understood as her hat

This is very common in Spanish. English usually prefers the possessive (her hat), while Spanish often uses el/la/los/las if the owner is already understood.