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Saqué efectivo del cajero ayer.

Saqué efectivo del cajero ayer.
I took cash out of the ATM yesterday.
From Lesson 101:Preterite spelling changes (-gué, -qué, -cé)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Saqué efectivo del cajero ayer.

Why is the verb spelled saqué instead of "sacé"?
The verb is sacar (to take out). In the preterite (completed past) tense, the "yo" (I) form needs to keep the hard "k" sound of the original verb. If we wrote "sacé," the c before an e would sound like an "s". To keep the original sound, Spanish changes the -car ending to -qué, giving us saqué.
Is efectivo the same thing as dinero?
Dinero is the general word for "money," while efectivo specifically means "cash" (physical bills and coins). When you withdraw money from an ATM, you are specifically getting efectivo.
Doesn't cajero usually mean "cashier"?
Yes, cajero can refer to a person working as a cashier. However, it is also the everyday way to say "ATM" in Spanish, which is short for cajero automático. You can usually tell from the context which one is meant!
Why does the sentence use del instead of de el?
In Spanish, whenever the word de (from/of) comes right before the masculine word for "the" (el), they must combine into the contraction del. So, "from the ATM" translates perfectly to del cajero.

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