Breakdown of Как только мы встретились с новыми друзьями, мы пошли в кафе.
мы
we
друг
friend
новый
new
кафе
cafe
в
in / to (direction)
с
with (also со)
пойти
to go (perfective, on foot) / to start (of rain, snow)
встретиться
to meet / to meet up (with each other)
как только
as soon as
Questions & Answers about Как только мы встретились с новыми друзьями, мы пошли в кафе.
Why do we use the perfective past tense for both verbs (встретились and пошли)?
The phrase как только (as soon as) shows a strict sequence of events. Because the first action (meeting) had to be completely finished before the second action (going to the cafe) could begin, both verbs need to be in the perfective aspect to show completed, consecutive steps.
Could we just say встретили новых друзей without the с and the -ся on the verb?
Yes, you could! Мы встретили новых друзей just means "we met new friends" (treating them as the direct object). Using the reflexive встретились along with с (with) changes the meaning slightly to a mutual action: "we met with our new friends."
Why does the word for friends end in -ями in с новыми друзьями?
The preposition с (meaning "with") requires the Instrumental case. The word друг (friend) has an irregular plural base, changing to друзья. To make it Instrumental plural, we add the ending -ями after the soft sign, giving us друзьями. The adjective takes the standard Instrumental plural ending -ыми.
Why use пошли instead of just шли for "went"?
Шли is imperfective and describes the ongoing process of walking ("we were walking"). Since this sentence is a sequence of completed events triggered by как только, we need the perfective verb пошли. The prefix по- adds the meaning of "set off" or "started going," showing that the trip to the cafe happened as a single, factual event.
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