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Cambié el biquini rojo por uno azul.

Cambié el biquini rojo por uno azul.
I exchanged the red bikini for a blue one.
From Lesson 202:Clothes and accessories (la cazadora, el tacón)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Cambié el biquini rojo por uno azul.

Why do we use por here instead of para?
In Spanish, por is used to express an exchange, substitution, or trade. Because you are swapping the red bikini for the blue one, you must use por.
Why does it say uno azul instead of just un azul to mean "a blue one"?
When you drop a masculine singular noun (like biquini) but still want to say "a [adjective] one", you must use the pronoun uno. The word un is an article and must be followed directly by a noun, whereas uno replaces the noun entirely.
Why isn't the verb reflexive? Don't you normally say me cambié for changing clothes?
You use the reflexive me cambié (or me cambié de ropa) when you mean "I changed my clothes" by physically putting on something else. However, this sentence is about exchanging a purchased item for a different one. For swapping one object for another, you use the non-reflexive cambiar algo por algo.
Why is cambié in the preterite tense here rather than the imperfect?
The preterite (cambié) is used because exchanging the bikini was a single, completed event in the past. If you used the imperfect (cambiaba), it would mean "I used to exchange" or "I was exchanging" rather than a one-time swap at a specific moment.

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