lexical questions - short and sweet!

Question

1.How would you say "an event... was moments away" ?? I tried fue momentos lejos, but apparently that's not a direct translation.

1. "the first two cars crashed into the..." I thought "los primeros dos cars(whatever) estrellaron con..."

My teacher says there is a lexical problem with LEJOS and with ESTRELLARON.

Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

1. "El evento estaba a punto de comenzar" is the most natural way to say this in Spanish. Obiously the direct translation does not work at all, because it makes no sense. "momentos lejos" literally means "moments far" Something was "moments far"? Doesn't work.

2. "los primeros dos carros se estrellaron contra (or chocaron con)..."

Answer 2

The direct translation doesn't work. I would say in the case of the car crash, Los dos coches primeros estaban al punto de estrellarse, or Los dos coches primeros estaban ya para estrellarse.