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El murciélago voló a través de la cueva.

El murciélago voló a través de la cueva.
The bat flew through the cave.
From Lesson 275:Trajectory prepositions (a través de, alrededor de)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El murciélago voló a través de la cueva.

Can I use por instead of a través de to mean through in this sentence?
Yes, you could say voló por la cueva, but there is a slight difference in focus. Using por just means the bat moved around within the cave or passed through it generally. Using a través de strongly emphasizes the trajectory of entering one side and coming out the other, or crossing the space.
Why does this sentence use the preterite voló rather than the imperfect volaba?
Using voló treats the flight as a single, completed action. If you used volaba, it would mean the bat was in the middle of flying through the cave, which is an ongoing background action usually used to set the scene for something else to happen.
Does a través de always mean through?
It usually translates to through, but it can also mean across when talking about flat surfaces, like walking across a field. In both cases, it describes a spatial trajectory from one edge or side of something to the other.
Why is there an accent mark on murciélago?
The stress falls on the third-to-last syllable: mur-CIE-la-go. In Spanish, any word with the spoken emphasis on the third-to-last syllable must have a written accent mark to show you exactly where to put that stress.

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