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Iba a llamarte, pero el teléfono se descargó y no tenía el cargador.

Iba a llamarte, pero el teléfono se descargó y no tenía el cargador.
I was going to call you, but the phone died and I didn't have the charger.
From Lesson 150:Unfulfilled intentions (iba a...)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Iba a llamarte, pero el teléfono se descargó y no tenía el cargador.

How does iba a llamarte show an unfulfilled intention?
This is the past version of voy a llamar (I am going to call). By putting ir in the imperfect tense (iba), it translates to "I was going to call." It sets up a past plan that usually didn't happen, which is why it is followed by pero (but).
Can I put the te somewhere else instead of attaching it to llamar?
Yes! With a conjugated verb plus an infinitive (an unchanged verb ending in -ar, -er, or -ir), pronouns can either attach to the end of the infinitive (iba a llamarte) or go right before the conjugated verb (te iba a llamar). Both mean the exact same thing.
Why use se descargó for "the phone died"?
Literally, se descargó means "it discharged itself." In Spanish, we do not usually say a battery or electronic device "died" (murió) like a living thing. We use the reflexive verb descargarse to say it ran out of battery.
Why is descargó in the preterite tense, but tenía is in the imperfect tense?
The phone losing its battery (se descargó) is a specific, completed event that interrupted things. Not having the charger (no tenía) was the ongoing background situation at that time. We use the preterite for the sudden event, and the imperfect for the background state.

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