Learn Spanish (Latin America): Fuimos a las ruinas y salimos rápidamente.

Fuimos a las ruinas y salimos rápidamente.

We went to the ruins and left quickly.

Breakdown of Fuimos a las ruinas y salimos rápidamente.

Questions & Answers about Fuimos a las ruinas y salimos rápidamente.

How can I tell if fuimos means 'we went' or 'we were'?

The verbs ser (to be) and ir (to go) share the exact same forms in the past tense. You have to rely on context to tell them apart. Because this sentence talks about moving a las ruinas (to the ruins), you know fuimos comes from ir and means 'we went'.

Wait, doesn't salimos also mean 'we leave' in the present tense?

Exactly! For regular -ir verbs like salir (to leave), the 'we' form is identical in both the present and the past tense. You know it means 'we left' here because the other verb in the sentence, fuimos, clearly sets the story in the past.

Why is the word for 'quickly' spelled rápidamente instead of rápidomente?

To make an adverb ending in -mente (the Spanish equivalent of English '-ly'), you always start with the feminine singular form of the adjective. Since the feminine form of rápido (fast) is rápida, we add -mente to get rápidamente.

Do I always need to put an a after fuimos?