Breakdown of El tren acaba de llegar a la vía dos.
llegar
to arrive
el tren
the train
a
to
dos
two
acabar
to finish (or to have just + infinitive)
de
linking word before an infinitive (after 'to have just')
la vía
the track (train)
Questions & Answers about El tren acaba de llegar a la vía dos.
Why is acaba de llegar used here instead of a literal translation for the word "just"?
In Spanish, the phrase acabar de followed by an infinitive (like llegar) is the standard way to express that an action "has just" happened. You cannot use a direct translation of "just" (like solo or justamente) to communicate this idea of a recently completed action.
Could I use the present perfect and say ha llegado instead?
You could say El tren ha llegado (The train has arrived), but you would lose the specific meaning that it happened only a moment ago. To express that something "has just" happened, acaba de + infinitive is the most natural choice.
Why do we say vía dos instead of using the ordinal number segunda?
Why does llegar use the preposition a in this sentence?
The verb llegar (to arrive) almost always takes the preposition a when stating a destination. While English speakers arrive "at" or "in" a place, in Spanish you generally arrive "to" (a) your destination, making it llegar a la vía.
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