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El autobús embistió al tren; es más, rompió el parachoques.

El autobús embistió al tren; es más, rompió el parachoques.
The bus rammed the train; what's more, it broke the bumper.
From Lesson 476:Personal 'a' for inanimate objects (a)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of El autobús embistió al tren; es más, rompió el parachoques.

al
to the
el autobús
bus
el tren
train
romper
to break
es más
furthermore
embestir
to ram
el parachoques
bumper

Questions & Answers about El autobús embistió al tren; es más, rompió el parachoques.

Why is there an a before el tren (al tren) if a train is an inanimate object?
This is the core of our current lesson! Normally, the personal a is only for people or pets. However, when both the subject and the object are inanimate (like a bus and a train), Spanish often uses an accusative a to mark the direct object. Here, al tren clearly shows that the train is the one receiving the impact, eliminating any ambiguity.
Could we leave the a out since the word order already shows the bus is the subject?
With verbs of physical impact or destruction (like embestir, golpear, or destruir), Spanish speakers almost always use the a when one inanimate object acts upon another. It instantly flags who hit whom, which is especially helpful because Spanish allows flexible word order. For example, you could say Al tren lo embistió el autobús and the meaning remains perfectly clear.
What is the infinitive of embistió, and why is it spelled with an i?
The infinitive is embestir (to ram or to charge). It is an -ir verb with an e to i stem change. As a quick refresher, remember that these stem-changing -ir verbs keep the vowel change in the third-person singular and plural of the preterite tense, which is why it becomes embistió.
How exactly does es más function in this sentence?
The phrase es más is a very natural conversational connector meaning what's more, furthermore, or in fact. You use it to add a stronger, escalating point that reinforces the statement you just made.
Why does parachoques take the singular article el if it ends in an s?
Parachoques (bumper) is a compound noun formed by combining a verb (para, from parar, meaning to stop) and a plural noun (choques, meaning crashes). In Spanish, these verb-plus-noun combinations always end in -s but are masculine and singular by default. To make it plural, you just change the article to los parachoques.

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