Question 1

Both fuimos and fue are in this sentence. Aren't they from the same verb?

Accepted Answer

They actually come from two completely different verbs: ir (to go) and ser (to be). By a strange coincidence in Spanish history, these two highly irregular verbs share the exact same forms in the preterite tense (fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron). You have to use context to tell them apart. Here, going to do an action (fuimos a explorar) only makes sense for ir, and describing how an event was (fue increíble) only makes sense for ser.

Question 2

Why is there an a between fuimos and explorar?

Accepted Answer

The verb ir (to go) is almost always followed by the preposition a when you talk about going to do an action. The formula is ir + a + infinitive verb (an unconjugated verb ending in -ar, -er, or -ir, like explorar). Even though the sentence is in the past tense (fuimos), that rule still applies!

Question 3

Where is the word for "it" in fue increíble?

Accepted Answer

Spanish rarely uses a word for "it" as a subject. While English requires you to say "it was incredible," Spanish simply uses the third-person singular form of the verb: fue. The "it" (the experience of exploring the monument) is already understood from the context and built right into the verb.

Question 4

Why use the preterite fue here instead of the imperfect era for "it was"?

Accepted Answer

When you sum up a completed event or give an overall rating on how a specific experience turned out, you use the preterite fue. If you were describing an ongoing background detail (like "the monument was very old"), you would use the imperfect era. Since your trip to explore the monument is a finished event that you are judging as "incredible," fue is the natural choice.

Fuimos a explorar el monumento y fue increíble.

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