Breakdown of Anoche la secretaria me llamó para confirmar la hora de la entrevista.
de
of
me
me
para
to
anoche
last night
llamar
to call
confirmar
to confirm
la entrevista
the interview
la secretaria
the secretary
la hora
the time
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Questions & Answers about Anoche la secretaria me llamó para confirmar la hora de la entrevista.
Why is llamó in the preterite tense instead of the imperfect?
Llamó is the preterite of llamar, used for completed actions in the past. Because the call happened at a specific time (last night) and is viewed as a finished event, the preterite is correct. If you used the imperfect (llamaba), it would imply an ongoing or habitual action (e.g. “she was calling me” or “she used to call me”), which doesn’t match this one-time event.
Why does the sentence use me llamó instead of llamó me?
In Spanish, unstressed object pronouns (like me) are placed immediately before a fully conjugated verb. Therefore you say me llamó, not llamó me. The pronoun always precedes the verb in that context.
Could you remove me and say la secretaria llamó para confirmar?
No. When you want to express that someone “called you,” llamar requires an indirect object pronoun. La secretaria llamó alone means “the secretary called” (but doesn’t specify who). To indicate that you were the one called, you must include me. You could add a mí for emphasis (la secretaria me llamó a mí), but me itself is obligatory for clarity.
What is the function of para confirmar and why do we use para + infinitive?
Para + infinitive expresses purpose, equivalent to “in order to.” Here para confirmar la hora means “to confirm the time.” It’s the standard Spanish structure to say why something is done (just like “I called to confirm” in English).
Why is it la hora de la entrevista instead of la hora para la entrevista?
Hora de la entrevista uses de to show a relationship, literally “the time of the interview.” While hora para la entrevista could be understood as “time set aside for the interview,” it isn’t the usual way to ask “what time the interview is.” In Spanish you’d normally refer to la hora de la entrevista or ask ¿A qué hora es la entrevista?
Why are there definite articles (la) before secretaria, hora, and entrevista?
Spanish generally requires articles before nouns. In this case you have specific entities—the secretary, the time, the interview—so you use the definite article la. Omitting the article would sound unnatural.
Why can anoche go at the beginning of the sentence, and could it go elsewhere?
Time adverbs like anoche are flexible in Spanish. Placing it at the start highlights the time frame, but you could also say La secretaria me llamó anoche or even La secretaria anoche me llamó without changing the meaning.
Could we use ayer por la noche instead of anoche, and is there any difference?
Yes. Ayer por la noche also means “last night.” Anoche is simply shorter and very common in Latin American Spanish. Both options are correct; anoche is more idiomatic, while ayer por la noche is a bit more descriptive.