Breakdown of Una vez que llegó, todo cambió.
llegar
to arrive
todo
all / everything
cambiar
to change
una vez que
once, as soon as
Questions & Answers about Una vez que llegó, todo cambió.
Why is llegó in the indicative here, instead of the subjunctive we are learning in this lesson?
The time clauses in this lesson only trigger the subjunctive when they refer to an anticipated future event. Because this sentence talks about a completed action in the past (he already arrived), the regular indicative past tense is required.
How would this sentence look if it were set in the future?
Can I replace una vez que with the phrases en cuanto or apenas from this lesson?
Yes! You could say En cuanto llegó, todo cambió or Apenas llegó, todo cambió. Both mean "As soon as he arrived, everything changed." Because they still describe a completed past event, they also take the indicative past tense (llegó).
Why do we need the que in una vez que?
In Spanish, to use "once" as a conjunction connecting to a new clause (a new subject and verb), you must include que. You can't just say una vez llegó. Literally, it translates to "one time that he arrived".
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