Breakdown of A pesar de que fueron personas ordinarias, llegaron a ser santos.
ser
to be
de
from / of
a
to
llegar
to arrive
la persona
person
que
that / than
el santo
saint
a pesar de
in spite of
ordinario
ordinary
Questions & Answers about A pesar de que fueron personas ordinarias, llegaron a ser santos.
Why is llegaron a ser used here to mean "they became", rather than se hicieron?
The phrase llegar a ser literally translates to "to arrive to be." It is used for a change that takes a long time, requires a lot of effort, or represents the culmination of a series of events. Becoming a saint is the ultimate example of a long, difficult process! While hacerse is also used for conscious, voluntary changes (like professions), llegar a ser emphasizes the long journey to reach that final state.
What exactly does a pesar de que mean? Could I just use aunque here?
A pesar de que means "even though", "in spite of", or "despite the fact that". You could absolutely use aunque (aunque fueron personas ordinarias...) and the meaning would be almost exactly the same. A pesar de que just sounds a bit stronger, emphasizing the contrast between them being ordinary and eventually becoming saints.
Why does the sentence use the preterite fueron instead of the imperfect eran for "they were"? Weren't they ordinary people for an ongoing period of time?
You could actually use eran here, and it would sound very natural to describe their ongoing background. However, using the preterite fueron wraps up their time as ordinary people into a single, completed historical fact. It treats their ordinary life as a closed chapter that ended when they achieved sainthood.
Why is it just santos instead of unos santos?
Just like with professions, nationalities, or religious affiliations (for example, soy médico or ella es católica), Spanish drops the indefinite article (un, una, unos, unas) after the verb ser when categorizing someone's status. Since llegaron a ser acts as a specialized form of ser, the rule still applies: they became members of the category of saints.
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