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Los pasajeros hicieron la fila para el reembolso.

Los pasajeros hicieron la fila para el reembolso.
The passengers stood in line for the refund.
From Lesson 103:The preterite of tener, estar, and hacer·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Los pasajeros hicieron la fila para el reembolso.

Wait, the translation says 'stood in line', but doesn't hicieron come from hacer (to make or do)?
Yes! In Spanish, you 'make' a line rather than 'stand' in one. The phrase hacer la fila is the standard way to say 'to stand in line' or 'to line up' in Latin America. Since the action happened in the past, we use the preterite form: hicieron la fila.
Why is the past tense of hacer spelled hicieron instead of 'hacieron'?
Hacer is one of those high-frequency verbs that is highly irregular in the preterite tense. It changes its stem from hac- to hic- (making it an 'i-stem' verb). For a 'they' subject like los pasajeros, we add the irregular ending -ieron to get hicieron.
Why do we use para instead of por for 'for the refund'?
We use para here because it shows the purpose or goal of the action. The passengers got in line in order to get the refund. When 'for' means 'in order to reach a goal', para is the word you want.
Can I use la cola instead of la fila for a line of people?
Yes! While la fila is very common, you will also hear la cola (literally 'the tail') used in many parts of Latin America. You would use it with the exact same verb: hacer la cola.

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