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Por poco y el andamio se estrella contra la pared.

Por poco y el andamio se estrella contra la pared.
The scaffold almost crashed against the wall.
From Lesson 463:Averted past events (por poco y...)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Por poco y el andamio se estrella contra la pared.

Why is se estrella in the present tense if this near-crash happened in the past?
This is a very common and unique feature of Spanish! When you use por poco (or por poco y) to say something almost happened but ultimately didn't, you typically use the present indicative tense. Even though the scaffold didn't crash in the past, Spanish speakers say se estrella to make the "near miss" feel more vivid and immediate.
What is the purpose of the y in Por poco y el andamio...?
The y is completely optional but very common in spoken Latin American Spanish. It doesn't translate to "and" here; it just acts as an informal intensifier that connects por poco to the rest of the sentence. You could also say Por poco el andamio se estrella... with the exact same meaning.
Why is estrella reflexive (se estrella) in this sentence?
The verb estrellar by itself usually means to slam or smash something else into a surface (for example, throwing a glass). When a person or an object crashes into something by accident, you use the pronominal form estrellarse. The se shows that the scaffold itself is the thing both doing the crashing and taking the impact.
Could I say en la pared instead of contra la pared for "into the wall"?
It's much better to use contra. The verb estrellarse almost always takes the preposition contra when specifying what was hit. While in English we might say "crashed into the wall," Spanish emphasizes the physical opposition or collision against the surface, hence contra la pared.

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