Learn Spanish (Latin America): Él ganó la apuesta con un farol y se la pagaron. - He won the bet with a bluff and they paid it to him.

Él ganó la apuesta con un farol y se la pagaron.

He won the bet with a bluff and they paid it to him.

Breakdown of Él ganó la apuesta con un farol y se la pagaron.

Questions & Answers about Él ganó la apuesta con un farol y se la pagaron.

How could I use one of the suffixes from this lesson to emphasize that it was a massive bluff?

You can add the suffix -azo to farol to make farolazo. The -azo suffix is often used to indicate an extreme, spectacular, or huge version of something (as well as a physical blow). Saying ganó con un farolazo means he won with a massive, dramatic bluff.

Doesn't farol usually mean "lantern" or "street lamp"?

Yes, its literal meaning is a lantern or lamp. However, in the context of betting, poker, or arguments, un farol is the standard term for a "bluff." If you want to use it as a verb phrase ("to bluff"), the common expression is tirarse un farol.

Why is it se la pagaron? What do the se and la refer to?

The la is the direct object referring back to la apuesta (the bet). The se replaces the indirect object pronoun le (to him). In Spanish, whenever le or les comes right before lo, la, los, or las, it must change to se to avoid the clunky "le la" sound.

There is no "they" mentioned earlier in the sentence. Who is the subject of pagaron?