Learn Spanish (Latin America): La exposición de arte del mes pasado fue maravillosa. - The art exhibition last month was wonderful.

In English, we can just say "the exhibition last month." In Spanish, to say a noun belongs to a specific time, you connect them with de (of). So, it literally means "the exhibition OF last month." Because mes uses the article el, de and el combine into the contraction del.

Does pasado change if I use a different time word, like "last week"?

Yes! When used in time expressions, pasado acts like an adjective, so it must match the gender and number of the time word. Because mes (month) is masculine, we use pasado. If it were last week (la semana), it would change to la semana pasada.

Why use fue instead of estuvo to say the exhibition "was" wonderful?

When you are summing up or evaluating an event (like a party, a concert, or an exhibition), Spanish uses ser rather than estar. Fue is the past tense (preterite) of ser, used here to say the event as a whole was a wonderful experience.

Why is it maravillosa ending in "a" when the word right before it (arte) is masculine?