La plaga dañó las hojas.

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

Hojas is a feminine plural noun, so it takes las.

In Spanish, articles must agree with the noun:

• la = feminine singular
• las = feminine plural

Even though many feminine nouns end in -a, you still need to learn each noun with its article.

Dañó is the third person singular preterite of the verb dañar.

So:

• dañar = to damage / to harm
• dañó = he damaged, she damaged, it damaged

In this sentence, the subject is la plaga, so dañó means it damaged.

Spanish often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already gives enough information.

Here, dañó tells you the subject is third person singular, and la plaga is already stated, so adding a pronoun would be unnecessary.

Spanish normally prefers:

• La plaga dañó las hojas.

rather than:

• La plaga ella dañó las hojas. ❌

The accent mark shows both pronunciation and verb form.

Without the accent, daño means:

• I damage, or
• damage/harm as a noun

But dañó with an accent on the final ó means:

• he/she/it damaged

So the accent is important because it changes the meaning.

The letter ñ is pronounced like the ny sound in canyon.

So dañó sounds roughly like:

• da-NYO

It is a separate letter in Spanish, not just an n with a mark.

Compare:

• ano and año are completely different words

So learners should pay close attention to ñ.

The preterite is used for a completed action in the past.

Dañó presents the damage as a finished event:

• the blight/pest damaged the leaves

If you used the imperfect, dañaba, it would suggest something more ongoing, repeated, or descriptive:

• it was damaging the leaves
• it used to damage the leaves

So dañó is the natural choice if you mean one completed past action.

Spanish uses definite articles more often than English.

So las hojas can sound natural even where English might simply say leaves.

In many contexts, Spanish prefers the article when talking about specific things affected in the situation, especially body parts, objects, and things already understood from context.

Not always. Plaga can mean different things depending on context, such as:

• plague
• pest infestation
• blight
• a harmful spread of insects, disease, or organisms

So in a plant-related sentence like this, plaga often refers to a pest or infestation affecting the plant.

Yes, but La plaga dañó las hojas is the most neutral and standard order: subject + verb + object.

Spanish sometimes changes word order for emphasis, for example:

• Las hojas las dañó la plaga.

That version sounds more marked or emphatic. For learners, the original order is the safest and most natural choice.

Not always. Hoja can mean:

• leaf of a plant
• sheet of paper
• blade in some contexts

Here, because the sentence is about la plaga, las hojas clearly means the leaves.

You would say:

• La plaga daña las hojas.

That means the blight/pest damages the leaves or is damaging the leaves, depending on context.

Compare:

• daña = present
• dañó = preterite past

Yes, depending on the exact meaning.

Some common alternatives are:

• afectó = affected
• arruinó = ruined
• destruyó = destroyed
• perjudicó = harmed
• infectó = infected

But dañó is a very good general verb when you mean caused damage without necessarily saying the leaves were completely destroyed.