El cuórum permitió votar, pero dos vecinos se abstuvieron.

Cuórum is a singular noun, so it takes el and a singular verb.

Even though a quorum is made up of several people, Spanish treats cuórum as one collective idea: the required number of people present.

So:

• el cuórum permitió... = singular
• not los cuórums permitieron... in this sentence

You may also see quórum or quorum, but cuórum is the fully adapted Spanish spelling.

Because the subject is el cuórum, which is grammatically singular.

Spanish verb agreement follows the grammatical subject, not the number of people inside the concept.

So:

• El cuórum permitió votar.
• not El cuórum permitieron votar.

This is similar to English using a singular collective noun in some contexts.

Permitió is the preterite of permitir.

It is used here because the sentence describes a completed action in the past: at some point, the quorum was reached, and that made voting possible.

Forms:

• permito = I allow
• permitía = I was allowing / used to allow
• permitió = he/she/it allowed

Here, the preterite fits because it refers to a specific event in a meeting.

Because Spanish often uses permitir + infinitive to mean to allow someone to do something.

So:

• permitió votar = allowed voting / allowed people to vote

This structure is very common:

• permitió entrar
• permitió hablar
• permitió salir

If you want to name who was allowed, Spanish can also say:

• permitió a los vecinos votar

The subject is understood from context.

In this sentence, votar refers to the people at the meeting, probably the residents or attendees. Spanish often leaves this kind of subject unstated when it is obvious.

So permitió votar means something like:

• it made it possible for those present to vote

Spanish is much more comfortable than English with leaving subjects implied.

Yes, vecinos literally means neighbors, but in Spain it often also means residents or members of a residential community, especially in building or community-meeting contexts.

So in a sentence like this, dos vecinos probably means:

• two residents
• two members of the community
• two neighbours attending the meeting

This is very natural in Spain, especially for apartment-building meetings or local community decisions.

Because the verb is abstenerse, not abstener.

That means the se is part of the verb itself. You need it when conjugating:

• me abstuve
• te abstuviste
• se abstuvieron

Here, se abstuvieron means they abstained.

The se is not optional. This is a pronominal verb, and learners usually need to memorize it with the pronoun: abstenerse.

Yes. Abstenerse is irregular in the preterite and follows the same pattern as tener.

The preterite forms are:

• me abstuve
• te abstuviste
• se abstuvo
• nos abstuvimos
• os abstuvisteis
• se abstuvieron

A common learner mistake is to try something like abstenieron, but that is not correct.

They are close, but not identical.

• se abstuvieron = they abstained
• no votaron = they did not vote

Abstained usually suggests a deliberate choice within a formal vote. It often means they were present and eligible to vote, but chose not to vote either yes or no.

No votaron is more general. It could mean they did not vote for any reason at all.

So se abstuvieron is more precise in a meeting or official voting context.

The accent marks show where the stress goes.

• cuórum has an accent because its stress does not follow the default spelling pattern.
• permitió has an accent to show stress on the final syllable: per-mi-tió.
• abstuvieron does not need an accent because its stress already follows normal Spanish stress rules: abs-tu-vie-ron.

So the accents are not random; they are there to guide pronunciation and stress.

Because pero introduces a new clause that contrasts with the first one.

The sentence has two parts:

• El cuórum permitió votar
• pero dos vecinos se abstuvieron

Using a comma before pero is standard punctuation in Spanish when joining two full clauses like this.

It works much like English but in the same position.