How to Say "broken down" in Spanish
The Spanish word for “broken down” is “fallado” — A2 level. This is a very common word in everyday Spanish.
Examples
El equipo ha fallado tres veces en la final.
The team has failed three times in the final.
Mi coche había fallado antes de que lo vendiera.
My car had broken down before I sold it.
La jueza ha fallado a favor del demandante.
The judge has ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
Forming Perfect Tenses
To talk about actions completed in the past, pair 'fallado' with a form of the verb 'haber' (e.g., 'he fallado' means 'I have failed').
No Gender Change
When 'fallado' is used as part of a verb tense (with 'haber'), it always stays 'fallado' regardless of who is doing the failing.
Using 'Ser' instead of 'Haber'
Mistake: “Yo soy fallado.”
Correction: Yo he fallado. Remember that 'haber' is the helper verb for almost all Spanish compound tenses, not 'ser' or 'estar'.
Related Translations
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