Al principio hubo bastante confusión con la hora de la reunión, pero luego todo quedó claro.

Al principio means at first or in the beginning.

It is made from a + el, which contracts to al, plus principio:

• a el principio → al principio

In this sentence, it means that the confusion happened at the beginning of the situation, not forever.

A learner might compare:

• Al principio hubo confusión = At first there was confusion
• Luego todo quedó claro = Later everything became clear

So al principio sets up a contrast with luego.

This is a very common question.

Both come from haber, but they work differently here:

• hubo = preterite
• había = imperfect

In this sentence, hubo bastante confusión presents the confusion as a completed situation/event at that stage of the story. It moves the narrative forward.

So:

• Hubo bastante confusión = There was quite a lot of confusion / There ended up being quite a lot of confusion

If you said había bastante confusión, the meaning would be more like there was a lot of confusion as background description, without focusing on it as a completed event.

Very roughly:

• hubo = something happened / there was
• había = there was / there used to be / there existed, as background

In a sentence with pero luego todo quedó claro, the preterite hubo fits well because the sentence tells a sequence of events.

No. In existential uses of haber meaning there is / there are / there was / there were, Spanish uses the verb in the third person singular.

So:

• Hubo un problema
• Hubo muchos problemas
• Hubo bastante confusión

Even if the noun after it is plural, standard Spanish still keeps haber singular in this structure:

• Hubo muchas dudas = There were many doubts/questions

So hubo does not agree with confusión. That is normal.

Here, bastante means quite a lot of, considerable, or fairly much, depending on context.

So:

• bastante confusión = quite a lot of confusion

It softens the statement a little compared with something stronger like:

• mucha confusión = a lot of confusion
• muchísima confusión = a huge amount of confusion

A useful point: bastante can be an adjective or adverb in Spanish, depending on how it is used. Here it modifies the noun confusión, so it functions like a determiner/adjective of quantity.

It means about the time of the meeting or regarding the meeting time.

Literally, it is:

• con = with
• la hora = the time
• de la reunión = of the meeting

But in natural English, confusión con... is often translated as:

• confusion about...
• confusion over...

So:

• hubo bastante confusión con la hora de la reunión = there was quite a lot of confusion about the time of the meeting

Spanish often uses con in places where English prefers about or over.

Because Spanish often uses the definite article where English might leave it out.

• la hora = the time
• la reunión = the meeting

So la hora de la reunión is the normal way to say the meeting time or more literally the time of the meeting.

Spanish generally likes explicit articles in these kinds of noun phrases:

• el nombre del hotel = the name of the hotel
• la puerta de la casa = the door of the house
• la hora de la reunión = the time of the meeting

Here luego means later, afterwards, or then.

So:

• pero luego = but then / but later

It contrasts with al principio:

• Al principio... = At first...
• pero luego... = but later...

This creates a very natural timeline:

1. first there was confusion
2. later everything became clear

This is an important expression.

Quedar can mean different things depending on context. Here, quedar claro means:

• to become clear
• to end up being clear
• to be made clear

So:

• todo quedó claro = everything became clear / everything was cleared up

This is a very common Spanish structure:

• quedar claro = to become clear
• quedar demostrado = to be shown/proven
• quedar resuelto = to end up resolved

So quedar here is not exactly to stay. It is closer to to end up or to turn out in this pattern.

Because claro agrees with todo.

In this sentence:

• todo = everything
• claro = clear

Although todo refers to all things in general, grammatically it is treated as singular masculine here, so the adjective is also singular masculine:

• todo quedó claro

Compare:

• La situación quedó clara — feminine singular, because situación is feminine
• Los detalles quedaron claros — masculine plural
• Las instrucciones quedaron claras — feminine plural

Because the meaning is about a change of state.

• quedó claro = became clear / ended up clear
• estaba claro = was clear (state)
• era claro = was clear in a more descriptive/general sense

The sentence is saying that at first there was confusion, and later the confusion was resolved. So a verb showing change is the best choice.

That is why quedó claro sounds natural:

• first: confusion
• later: clarity

If you said luego todo estaba claro, that would mean later everything was clear, which is possible in some contexts, but it does not highlight the transition as strongly as quedó claro.

Todo is a very common and natural way to say everything.

So:

• todo quedó claro = everything became clear

It refers to the whole issue or all the details involved. Spanish often uses todo where English would naturally say everything.

Other possibilities would change the focus slightly:

• la situación quedó clara = the situation became clear
• todo quedó claro = everything became clear
• las dudas quedaron aclaradas = the doubts were cleared up

So todo is broad, simple, and very idiomatic here.

Here it is being used like an uncountable noun, similar to English confusion.

That is why the sentence says:

• bastante confusión = quite a lot of confusion

You would not normally count it in this context. You talk about an amount of confusion, not individual confusions.

Spanish can sometimes use abstract nouns in different ways depending on context, but here it works as a general mass noun:

• Hubo confusión
• Hubo mucha confusión
• Hubo bastante confusión

Not really. That kind of word-for-word translation would sound unnatural and would also miss some meanings.

Here is how the parts work more naturally:

• Al principio = At first, not usually at the beginning
• bastante = quite a lot of, not necessarily enough
• con la hora de la reunión = about the time of the meeting, not literally with the hour
• quedó claro = became clear or was cleared up, not stayed clear

So a natural translation is:

• At first there was quite a lot of confusion about the meeting time, but then everything became clear.

This is a good example of why Spanish should usually be understood by meaning and structure, not by translating each word mechanically.