Learn Spanish (Latin America): Anoche conversamos con el doctor. - Last night we conversed with the doctor.

Anoche conversamos con el doctor.

Last night we conversed with the doctor.

Breakdown of Anoche conversamos con el doctor.

Questions & Answers about Anoche conversamos con el doctor.

Wait, isn't conversamos also the present tense word for "we converse"?

Yes, it is! For regular -ar verbs, the "we" form (nosotros) is exactly the same in both the present and the preterite (past) tense. You have to look at context clues, like the word anoche (last night), to know it means "we conversed" here.

Does anoche just mean "at night"?

No, anoche specifically means "last night." If you want to say "at night" in general, you would use por la noche or de la noche. Because anoche points to a specific, completed time in the past, it is a big flashing sign telling you to use the preterite tense.

Why isn't the word nosotros (we) used before the verb?

In Spanish, the verb ending already tells you who is doing the action. Since conversamos can only mean "we conversed" (or "we converse"), adding nosotros is optional and usually left out unless you really want to emphasize the "we".

Could I use hablamos instead of conversamos in this sentence?

Absolutely. Hablamos means "we spoke" or "we talked" and is also a regular -ar verb with identical present and past forms for "we". Conversamos just specifically means having a conversation or chatting, whereas hablamos is a bit more general.