Learn Spanish (Latin America): Él ya se había quedado calvo antes de la boda. - He had already gone bald before the wedding.

Él ya se había quedado calvo antes de la boda.

He had already gone bald before the wedding.

Breakdown of Él ya se había quedado calvo antes de la boda.

él

from / of

already / now (right now)

quedarse

to stay / to end up / become

Questions & Answers about Él ya se había quedado calvo antes de la boda.

Why is quedarse used here instead of volverse or hacerse for 'gone bald'?

In Spanish, quedarse is the go-to verb for changes that express a new, lasting physical state, especially those involving a loss or physical defect outside of the person's control. You use it for conditions like going bald (quedarse calvo), blind (quedarse ciego), or deaf (quedarse sordo). Hacerse would wrongly imply he made a voluntary effort to become bald, and volverse is usually reserved for deep, lasting changes in personality or behavior.

Could I use ponerse to express that he 'got' bald?

No, ponerse is used for temporary physical or emotional changes, like getting sick (ponerse enfermo) or turning red (ponerse rojo). Since going bald is generally a permanent physical change, quedarse is the correct choice.

Why is the pronoun se placed before había rather than attached to quedado?

This sentence uses the past perfect tense, which consists of the auxiliary verb haber and a past participle (quedado). In Spanish, you can never separate these two parts, and you cannot attach pronouns to a past participle. Therefore, the pronoun se must go immediately before the conjugated auxiliary verb había.

Why doesn't the adverb translate directly to the English word order 'had already gone'?