El corredor llegó a la línea de meta.

Llegó is the third-person singular preterite of llegar.

It is used because the sentence describes a completed action: the runner reached the finish line. In English, this is often translated with the simple past: arrived or reached.

A learner might compare it with:

• llega = arrives / is arriving (present)
• llegaba = was arriving / used to arrive (imperfect)
• ha llegado = has arrived (present perfect)

Here, llegó presents the event as a single finished action.

Because llegar normally uses a before a destination.

So:

• llegar a la estación
• llegar al aeropuerto
• llegar a la línea de meta

This works like to arrive at or to reach in English.

So llegó a la línea de meta is literally something like arrived at the finish line.

Because al is the contraction of a + el only.

• a + el = al
• a + la = a la (no contraction)

Since línea is a feminine noun, the article is la:

• la línea

So the sentence must say a la línea de meta, not al línea de meta.

The accent mark shows that the stress falls on the last syllable: lle-GÓ.

It also helps distinguish it from llego, which means I arrive or I am arriving.

So:

• llego = I arrive
• llegó = he/she/it arrived

The accent is important both for pronunciation and meaning.

The accent in línea shows that the stress falls on lí: LÍ-ne-a.

It also tells you that the word has three syllables, not two. The accented í breaks what might otherwise be pronounced as a diphthong.

So it is pronounced roughly:

• LÍ-ne-a

This is a very common pattern in Spanish with words like:

• día
• frío
• país

Here, corredor means runner.

It comes from the verb correr = to run.

In other contexts, corredor can also mean things like:

• racer
• runner in a race
• sometimes even corridor in certain contexts

But in this sentence, because of llegó a la línea de meta, it clearly means runner.

Yes, Spanish can leave out the subject:

• Llegó a la línea de meta.

That is grammatically fine, because llegó already tells you it is he/she/it.

But Spanish often includes the subject when it wants to:

• make clear who did the action
• introduce a new person into the sentence
• add emphasis or contrast

So El corredor llegó a la línea de meta is completely natural and a bit clearer than leaving the subject out.

Both can be used.

• la meta can mean the finish line or the goal
• la línea de meta is more explicit: the finish line

So línea de meta spells out that we are talking about the line marking the end of the race.

In many contexts, Spanish speakers would also simply say:

• El corredor llegó a la meta.

That is also very natural.

Because línea de meta is a fixed type of expression where de + noun describes the type or function of something.

It works a bit like:

• gafas de sol = sunglasses
• zapatillas de deporte = sports shoes
• carrera de coches = car race

So línea de meta means finish line as a set phrase.

If you said línea de la meta, it would sound less like the standard race expression and more like the line of the goal/finish, which is not the usual way to say it here.

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

el ko-rre-DOR ye-GÓ a la LÍ-ne-a de ME-ta

A few useful points:

• rr in corredor is a rolled r
• ll in llegó is pronounced like y in most of Spain
• llegó is stressed on the last syllable
• línea is stressed on the first syllable

So the rhythm is roughly: El corredor llegó a la línea de meta.

Yes. In this sentence, English might naturally say either:

• The runner arrived at the finish line
• The runner reached the finish line

Spanish uses llegar a here, which often corresponds to arrive at or reach, depending on what sounds most natural in English.

So even though the Spanish verb is llegar, the best English translation can vary a little by context.