Ayer cené en un restaurante con mi familia.

Yesterday I had dinner at a restaurant with my family.

Breakdown of Ayer cené en un restaurante con mi familia.

• yo: I
• en: in
• con: with
• mi: my

Questions & Answers about Ayer cené en un restaurante con mi familia.

Why is ayer at the beginning of the sentence instead of at the end?

In Spanish, ayer can be placed at the beginning or at the end without changing the meaning. Positioning it at the start simply highlights the time element first. You could say Cené ayer en un restaurante con mi familia and it would still be correct, just slightly less common.

Why is cené in the preterite (simple past) tense?

The preterite is used in Spanish to express a completed action in the past. Saying cené indicates you already finished having dinner at a specific point in time (yesterday). If you used the imperfect tense (cenaba), it would suggest an ongoing or repeated action in the past, which isn’t the case here.

Why do we say en un restaurante instead of a un restaurante?

In Spanish, en usually means in or at, and it’s the correct preposition to indicate the place where something happens. A often indicates movement toward a place. Since you’re describing where you had dinner, you use en to say you were at the restaurant.

Is mi familia singular or plural in Spanish?