Breakdown of Por más que tuvieron cuidado, dejaron el esmalte nuevo agrietado.
tener
to have
nuevo
new
que
that / than
más
more
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
dejar
to stop / to leave (something behind)
el cuidado
care / caution
agrietar
to crack
el esmalte
the enamel
Questions & Answers about Por más que tuvieron cuidado, dejaron el esmalte nuevo agrietado.
How does dejaron work with agrietado here?
This is a resultative periphrasis, using the verb dejar (to leave) followed by a past participle (agrietado). It emphasizes the final consequence or state of an action. Instead of just saying they cracked it (lo agrietaron), dejaron el esmalte... agrietado highlights the ruined state they left the enamel in. Remember that the past participle acts as an adjective in this structure, so it must agree in gender and number with the direct object (el esmalte).
Why is tuvieron in the indicative instead of the subjunctive? Doesn't por más que trigger the subjunctive?
Por más que (no matter how much / even though) only triggers the subjunctive when the situation is hypothetical, unknown, or in the future. Because this sentence states a known, completed fact in the past (they actually were careful), we use the indicative tuvieron. If you were talking about a hypothetical future situation (no matter how careful they might be), you would use the subjunctive: por más que tengan cuidado.
Why do we use tuvieron cuidado instead of something like fueron cuidadosos?
While fueron cuidadosos is grammatically valid, Spanish heavily prefers using the verb tener (to have) followed by a noun to express states of being where English uses the verb to be plus an adjective. Therefore, to be careful translates directly to the very common phrase tener cuidado (literally, to have care).
Why is the word order dejaron el esmalte nuevo agrietado rather than putting agrietado right next to dejaron?
In the dejar + past participle construction, the direct object (el esmalte nuevo) typically goes between the verb and the participle. This mirrors English perfectly: they left [the new enamel] [cracked]. Nuevo is a standard adjective directly modifying esmalte, while agrietado represents the resulting state caused by the action of leaving it.
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