En el expediente de la beca faltaba una fotocopia, así que tuve que posponer la cita.

Because faltaba is the imperfect, and it presents the missing photocopy as a background situation or an ongoing state at that moment.

• Faltaba una fotocopia = a photocopy was missing
• It describes the situation in the file when the speaker discovered the problem.

If you said faltó una fotocopia, it would sound more like a completed event: a photocopy was missing / failed to be there at a specific moment, which is less natural here.

In this sentence, the logic is:

• first, there was a situation: a photocopy was missing
• because of that, a completed action happened: tuve que posponer la cita

So the combination faltaba + tuve que is very natural.

Yes. In faltaba una fotocopia, una fotocopia is the grammatical subject.

Spanish faltar often works differently from how English speakers expect. Literally, it is closer to:

• A photocopy was lacking in the scholarship file
• or One photocopy was missing from the scholarship file

So:

• faltaba = was missing / was lacking
• una fotocopia = the thing missing

This is similar to how gustar can feel reversed to English learners. The focus is on the missing thing, not on a person doing the action.

Here, expediente means something like:

• file
• record
• application file
• dossier

In this sentence, el expediente de la beca is the set of documents connected with the scholarship application.

Depending on context, expediente can also mean:

• a student’s academic record
• an official case file
• a personnel record

So it is a flexible administrative word, and here it refers to the paperwork for the scholarship.

En el expediente de la beca means in the scholarship file.

Breakdown:

• en = in
• el expediente = the file
• de la beca = of the scholarship / for the scholarship

So the phrase identifies where the photocopy was missing: inside that file.

You could sometimes hear alternatives depending on context, such as:

• en la solicitud de la beca = in the scholarship application
• en los papeles de la beca = in the scholarship paperwork

But expediente sounds more official and administrative.

Fotocopia specifically means photocopy.

• una fotocopia = a photocopy made from a machine/copier
• una copia = a copy in a more general sense

In official paperwork, Spanish often uses fotocopia very naturally, especially in bureaucratic contexts.

For example:

• Hace falta una fotocopia del DNI = A photocopy of the ID is needed
• Necesito una copia del contrato = I need a copy of the contract

The second one could be printed, digital, or photocopied; fotocopia is more specific.

Así que means so, therefore, or so then.

In this sentence:

• ..., así que tuve que posponer la cita.
• ..., so I had to postpone the appointment.

It introduces the consequence of the first clause.

Comparison:

• así que = so
• por eso = for that reason / that’s why
• entonces = then / so, depending on context

All can sometimes work, but they are not always identical.

Examples:

• Faltaba una fotocopia, así que tuve que posponer la cita.
• Faltaba una fotocopia; por eso tuve que posponer la cita.
• Faltaba una fotocopia, entonces tuve que posponer la cita.

The first is probably the most neutral and natural here.

Tuve que is the preterite of tener que, and it usually means I had to in the sense of a completed, specific obligation.

Here, the speaker is talking about a concrete event in the past:

• there was a problem
• as a result, they had to postpone the appointment

So tuve que posponer la cita means:

• I had to postpone the appointment
• and it implies that the postponement actually happened

By contrast, tenía que often describes:

• an ongoing obligation
• a repeated obligation
• a planned or expected obligation
• sometimes an obligation that may or may not have been fulfilled

Compare:

• Tuve que ir al banco. = I had to go to the bank (and normally I did)
• Tenía que ir al banco. = I was supposed to / needed to go to the bank

Usually, yes.

In many contexts:

• tuve que + infinitive strongly suggests the action was actually carried out

So tuve que posponer la cita normally means the person did postpone the appointment.

That is one reason tuve que fits well here: it presents the postponement as a completed consequence of the missing document.

Posponer means to postpone or to put off until later.

So:

• posponer la cita = to postpone the appointment

It is perfectly correct and common. In Spain, you may also hear:

• aplazar la cita
• retrasar la cita

These are similar, but there can be small differences:

• posponer = move to a later time
• aplazar = postpone, often slightly more formal
• retrasar = delay

In this sentence, posponer is a very good choice.

No, here la cita means the appointment.

Spanish cita can mean:

• an appointment
• a meeting
• a date

In an administrative context like a scholarship file, la cita almost certainly means:

• an appointment at an office
• a scheduled meeting related to paperwork

If it were a romantic date, the context would normally make that clear.

Because Spanish often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed.

The verb form tuve already tells you the subject is I:

• tuve = I had
• tuvo = he/she/it had
• tuvieron = they had

So yo is unnecessary unless the speaker wants emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Tuve que posponer la cita. = neutral
• Yo tuve que posponer la cita. = more emphatic, maybe contrasting with someone else

Not with exactly the same meaning.

• Faltaba una fotocopia = a photocopy was missing
• Había una fotocopia = there was a photocopy

Those are opposites in meaning.

You could say:

• No había una fotocopia
• or better, No había fotocopia

But faltaba una fotocopia is more idiomatic in this context because it clearly expresses that a required document was missing from the file.

Spanish uses definite articles more often than English.

Here:

• la beca = the scholarship
• la cita = the appointment

In el expediente de la beca, the article helps identify a specific scholarship process or application.

In posponer la cita, the article refers to the already known appointment — the one connected to the paperwork.

English sometimes omits articles where Spanish keeps them, so this is a very common thing to notice as a learner.

A more literal structure is:

• In the scholarship file, a photocopy was missing, so I had to postpone the appointment.

That sounds a bit formal in English, but it helps show the Spanish structure.

A more natural English version might be:

• A photocopy was missing from the scholarship file, so I had to postpone the appointment.

Spanish often allows location phrases like en el expediente de la beca to come first without sounding unusual.

In standard Peninsular Spanish, cita is pronounced roughly like THEE-ta.

That is because in most of Spain:

• c before e or i is pronounced like English th in think

So:

• cita ≈ THEE-ta
• beca ≈ BEH-ka
• fotocopia ≈ fo-to-co-PIA
• así has the stress on the second syllable: a-SÍ

In most of Latin America, cita would sound more like SEE-ta instead. Since you asked about Spain, THEE-ta is the expected pronunciation in most of the country.