Quité la cubierta y el guardabarros.

Quité is the 1st person singular preterite of quitar.

So it means I removed, I took off, or I took away, depending on context.

In this sentence, it refers to a completed action in the past: the speaker removed both items.

Because quité is the past tense form, while quito is the present tense form.

• quito = I remove / I am removing
• quité = I removed

The accent on é is important: it helps mark the preterite form.

In Spanish, subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

• Quité already means I removed
• So yo is not necessary

You could say Yo quité la cubierta y el guardabarros, but it usually sounds more natural to leave yo out unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Because each noun normally keeps its own article.

• la cubierta is one noun phrase
• el guardabarros is another noun phrase

Also, the nouns have different genders:

• cubierta is feminine → la
• guardabarros is masculine → el

So la cubierta y el guardabarros is the normal way to say the cover and the mudguard/fender.

Cubierta is a feminine singular noun, so it takes la.

• singular feminine: la cubierta
• plural feminine: las cubiertas

As often happens in Spanish, the article tells you the gender of the noun.

No, here guardabarros is singular.

This is one of those Spanish compound nouns that can end in -s even when singular. So:

• el guardabarros = singular
• los guardabarros = plural

The article tells you whether it is singular or plural.

It is a compound noun:

• guardar = to protect/keep
• barro = mud

So guardabarros is literally something like mud-protector, which is why it means mudguard or fender, depending on context.

It stays y because el does not begin with an ee sound.

Spanish changes y to e before words that begin with an i or hi sound:

• padre e hijo
• España e Italia

But here it is:

• la cubierta y el guardabarros

because el begins with an e sound, not an i sound.

Yes. Quitar is being used transitively here, meaning it takes direct objects.

The direct objects are:

• la cubierta
• el guardabarros

So the structure is:

• Quité = verb
• la cubierta y el guardabarros = direct object phrase

Yes, but only if the objects are already clear from the context.

For example:

• Los quité = I removed them

If you want to refer to both items together, Spanish commonly uses los because the combined group is treated as masculine plural when it includes a masculine noun.

Not always. Cubierta has several meanings depending on context.

It can mean things like:

• cover
• outer layer
• deck on a ship
• tire in some contexts

So in a sentence like this, the exact meaning depends on what object or machine is being discussed.

Yes, guardabarros is a normal word in Spain for mudguard or fender, especially in vehicle-related contexts.

In other Spanish-speaking regions, you may also hear different words depending on the country and the object involved.

Possibly, depending on the situation.

• quitar focuses on removing or taking off
• sacar focuses more on taking out or pulling out

So both can sometimes work, but quitar is especially natural when something is attached or in place and you remove it.

It is pronounced roughly kee-TEH.

A few helpful points:

• qu before i sounds like k
• the u is silent in qui
• the stress falls on the last syllable because of the accent: qui-TÉ

So quité is stressed at the end.