Breakdown of Hicimos nuevas amistades durante el partido de hoy.
nosotros
we
hoy
today
de
of
nuevo
new
durante
during
hacer
to make
el partido
the match
la amistad
the friendship
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Spanish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Hicimos nuevas amistades durante el partido de hoy.
Why don’t we say nos hicimos nuevas amistades?
The phrase hacer amistades in Spanish is not reflexive, so you don’t add a pronoun like nos. You simply use hacer (to make) plus the noun amistades (friendships). Hence, hicimos nuevas amistades is correct.
Why is hicimos in the preterite tense and not the present or the imperfect?
The preterite (hicimos) is used for actions completed at a specific time—in this case, “during today’s match.” The present (hacemos) would imply an ongoing habitual action, and the imperfect (hacíamos) would describe a background or repeated action in the past, not a single, finished event.
What’s the difference between hacer amistades and hacer amigos?
Literally they overlap (both mean “to make friends”), but there’s a nuance:
• hacer amistades uses the abstract noun amistades (“friendships”)—it can sound a bit more formal or general.
• hacer amigos uses the concrete noun amigos (“friends”)—it’s more colloquial and focuses on individual people.
Why is amistades plural? Could I say una nueva amistad instead?
Plural amistades implies you made more than one friendship. If you only made one friendship, you could indeed say hicimos una nueva amistad, but that’s less common—Spanish learners typically use plural when meeting several people.
Why is durante used instead of mientras?
Durante is a preposition meaning “during” and takes a noun (el partido).
Mientras is a conjunction meaning “while” and must introduce a verb clause (e.g. mientras jugábamos). So you choose durante + noun or mientras + verb depending on your structure.
Why do we include the article el before partido?
When referring to a specific event—like “the game” you just watched—you need the definite article el. Omitting it would make the phrase generic or ungrammatical in this context.
Why is it el partido de hoy and not just hoy partido?
To describe “today’s game,” Spanish prefers noun + de + time: el partido de hoy. You could start a sentence with Hoy (“Today…”), but to qualify the noun you need the de construction.
Could I use en el partido de hoy instead of durante el partido de hoy?
You can say en el partido de hoy to mean “in/at today’s game,” but it doesn’t emphasize the span of time like durante does. If you want “throughout the match,” always use durante.