El conductor detuvo el coche.

Detuvo is the preterite (also called the simple past) of detener.

• detener = to stop, to detain
• detuvo = he/she/it stopped

In this sentence, the preterite is used because it describes a completed action in the past: the driver stopped the car.

A few useful forms:

• yo detuve = I stopped
• tú detuviste = you stopped
• él/ella/usted detuvo = he/she/you stopped

Because detener is an irregular preterite verb.

It does not form the preterite in the regular way. Instead, it follows the same pattern as tener.

Compare:

• tener → tuve, tuviste, tuvo
• detener → detuve, detuviste, detuvo

So detuvo is something you simply need to learn as part of the irregular preterite pattern.

Full preterite of detener:

• yo detuve
• tú detuviste
• él/ella/usted detuvo
• nosotros detuvimos
• vosotros detuvisteis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes detuvieron

Spanish often uses the definite article (el, la, los, las) more often than English does.

So even if English might say the driver stopped the car, Spanish naturally says:

• El conductor = the driver
• el coche = the car

This is completely normal. In many contexts, Spanish prefers an article where English might sometimes omit one or choose a different structure.

Also, both nouns are masculine singular, so they take el.

Conductor is the standard Spanish word for driver.

• conductor / conductora = driver
• chofer also exists, but it often sounds more like chauffeur or can vary by region
• conducidor is not the normal word for driver

In Spain, conductor is very common and neutral.

You may also hear:

• el conductor del coche = the driver of the car
• la conductora = the female driver

In Spain, coche is the most natural everyday word for car.

Regional differences:

• Spain: coche
• Many parts of Latin America: carro or auto

So for Spanish from Spain, El conductor detuvo el coche sounds very natural.

Other possible words exist, but they may sound regional or less common in Spain.

Yes, you could also say paró el coche.

Both are possible, but there can be a slight difference in feel:

• detener el coche = to stop the car
• parar el coche = to stop the car

In many everyday situations, parar is very common and natural.
Detener can sound a bit more formal, deliberate, or precise in some contexts.

So these are both valid:

• El conductor detuvo el coche.
• El conductor paró el coche.

In Spain, parar is extremely common in speech.

Because el coche is a thing, not a person.

The personal a is generally used before specific human beings (and sometimes pets or personified beings) when they are direct objects.

Examples:

• Veo a María. = I see María.
• Ayudó a su padre. = He helped his father.

But:

• Veo el coche. = I see the car.
• Detuvo el coche. = He stopped the car.

Since coche is an object, there is no personal a.

The subject is El conductor.

Spanish word order here is straightforward:

• El conductor = the subject
• detuvo = the verb
• el coche = the direct object

So the structure is:

Subject + verb + object

That tells you that the driver is the one who performed the action, and the car is what was stopped.

Yes. Spanish often omits subject pronouns, and sometimes even noun subjects, when the meaning is clear from context.

So in context, someone might simply say:

• Detuvo el coche. = He/She stopped the car.

The verb form detuvo already tells you it is third person singular:

• he stopped
• she stopped
• you (formal) stopped

But without context, it would not tell you exactly who. That is why El conductor is included here.

A simple Spain-style approximation is:

deh-TOO-boh

Stress falls on the second syllable: tu.

Breakdown:

• de
• tu
• vo

A few pronunciation notes:

• Spanish d is softer than English d in some positions
• v and b are pronounced very similarly in Spanish
• vowels are short and clear:
  • e as in a pure eh
  • u as oo
  • o as a pure oh

Because detuvo follows normal Spanish stress rules, so it does not need a written accent.

Spanish words ending in:

• vowel
• n
• s

are normally stressed on the second-to-last syllable.

detuvo ends in a vowel, so the stress naturally falls on tu:

de-TU-vo

Since that stress is regular and predictable, no accent mark is needed.

No. Conductor is the masculine form. The feminine form is conductora.

So you could say:

• El conductor detuvo el coche.
• La conductora detuvo el coche.

The noun changes to match the gender of the person being described.

Yes. Detener has a few related meanings depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• to stop something
• to hold back
• to detain someone

Examples:

• Detuvo el coche. = He stopped the car.
• La policía detuvo al sospechoso. = The police detained the suspect.

So the core idea is causing something or someone to stop.

The infinitive is detener.

It is built from:

• de-
• tener

That is why its irregular forms resemble those of tener.

Compare:

• tener → tuvo
• detener → detuvo

This same pattern happens with several verbs based on tener:

• mantener → mantuvo
• obtener → obtuvo
• sostener → sostuvo

So if you know the irregular forms of tener, that helps a lot with detener and similar verbs.