Breakdown of Nós íamos responder ao comentário, mas distraímo-nos.
nós
we
mas
but
ao
to the / at the (m.sg; f.sg à, m.pl aos, f.pl às)
ir
to go
responder
to reply
distrair-se
to get distracted
o comentário
the comment
Questions & Answers about Nós íamos responder ao comentário, mas distraímo-nos.
How does íamos responder show that we didn't actually reply?
Íamos is the Pretérito Imperfeito (past continuous) of the verb ir (to go). When you combine it with an infinitive like responder, it translates to "we were going to reply". This is the standard way to express an unfulfilled past intention—something you planned to do, but usually didn't, which is why it is often followed by mas (but).
Why do we use two different past tenses (íamos and distraímo-nos) in the same sentence?
This is a classic past-tense combination! Íamos is in the Imperfeito because it describes a background state or ongoing intention ("we were going to"). Distraímo-nos is in the Pretérito Perfeito because getting distracted was a sudden, completed event that interrupted the plan.
Why is the 's' missing in distraímo-nos? Shouldn't the "we" form be distraímos?
Why is it ao comentário instead of just o comentário?
The verb responder (to reply / to answer) requires the preposition a (to) before the thing or person you are replying to. When the preposition a meets the masculine article o (the) before comentário, they merge into the contraction ao.
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