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The first sentence, with a las tres y media at the end, is the obvious vehicle for countering the claim that the children come out at some other time (e.g. four o’clock).
New versus old information
In contrast, the second sentence can only be used for this purpose if the phrase a las tres y media receives spoken emphatic stress. In the absence of such emphatic stress the natural focus of the second sentence is the phrase salen los niños, i.e. what happens and not when. The principle that new or important information comes at the end of the sentence has the following consequences.
28.1.1 The subject often follows the verb in answers to questions In a sentence given in response to a question asking ¿quién? or ¿qué?, if the subject supplies the answer it will usually come after the verb:
–¿Quien fue a la cena? –Fueron Ana, Lole y Miguel. ‘Who went to the dinner?’ ‘Ana, Lole and Miguel went.’ –¿Qué se ha caído? –Se ha caído el puente. ‘What has fallen down?’ ‘The bridge has fallen down.’
28.1.2 Indefinite subjects often follow the verb A subject that is a noun preceded by the indefinite article, by a numeral or by an indefinite adjective (e.g. mucho ‘many’, alguno ‘some’) is very likely to be the main bearer of new information in a sentence. Therefore the subject often follows the verb in this type of case:
Llegaron un montón de policías.
A load of police showed up.
Faltaban tres chicas.
Three girls were missing.
Han desaparecido unos cuantos Several books have libros. disappeared. Note: If the focus of the sentence is the verb or verb phrase itself, an indefinite subject will usually come first: Mucha gente se fue ‘Many people left’. This puts the focus on the idea of leaving, in contrast to Se fue mucha gente, which puts the focus on the quantity of people who left.
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