Когда мы вышли из театра, было уже за полночь.

When we came out of the theater, it was already past midnight.

Breakdown of Когда мы вышли из театра, было уже за полночь.

• быть: to be
• мы: we
• когда: when
• театр: the theater

Questions & Answers about Когда мы вышли из театра, было уже за полночь.

Why is it вышли and not выходили?

Вышли is the perfective past form of выйти, so it presents the action as completed: we went out / we came out.

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to the moment after they had exited the theater, so a completed action fits naturally.

If you used выходили instead, it would sound more like:

• a repeated action,
• an ongoing process,
• or background description in the past.

So here Когда мы вышли из театра... means When we came out of the theater..., focusing on the finished event.

Why does вышли end in -ли?

Because the subject is мы (we), and in the past tense Russian verbs agree in number and sometimes gender.

Past tense endings:

• masculine singular: no extra ending, e.g. вышел
• feminine singular: вышла
• neuter singular: вышло
• plural: вышли

Since мы is plural, the verb must be вышли.

Why is it из театра and not из театр?