Breakdown of La polea se desprendió; por poco y cae la plataforma.
y
and
caer
to fall
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
poco
little / a little
Questions & Answers about La polea se desprendió; por poco y cae la plataforma.
Why is cae in the present tense if the platform almost fell in the past?
In Spanish, when you use por poco (or por poco y) to say that something almost happened but ultimately didn't, it is very common to use the present indicative tense. Even though the action belongs to the past, phrasing it in the present makes the near miss feel more immediate and dramatic. You could also use the preterite, but the present is much more common in everyday speech for this specific phrase.
What is the y doing in por poco y cae? Can I just say por poco cae?
Why is it se desprendió rather than just desprendió?
The verb desprender means to detach or to release something. If you use it without the pronoun se, you need to state who detached the pulley. By using the pronominal form desprenderse, it translates to the English intransitive coming loose or detaching itself, focusing purely on the accident without assigning blame.
Why is the word order cae la plataforma instead of la plataforma cae?