El corredor llegó a la línea de meta.

The runner reached the finish line.

Breakdown of El corredor llegó a la línea de meta.

• a: to
• llegar: to arrive
• la línea de meta: the finish line
• el corredor: the runner

Questions & Answers about El corredor llegó a la línea de meta.

What tense is llegó, and why is that tense used here?

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.

Why is there an a after llegó?

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.

Why is it a la and not al?