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Los estudiantes se reunieron anteayer para ver una comedia.

Los estudiantes se reunieron anteayer para ver una comedia.
The students got together the day before yesterday to see a comedy.
From Lesson 105:Past time expressions (ayer, anoche)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Los estudiantes se reunieron anteayer para ver una comedia.

Is anteayer related to ayer?
Yes! Anteayer means "the day before yesterday." It is made by combining ante (before) and ayer (yesterday). Since it names a specific, completed time in the past, it is a great clue that you need to use the preterite tense, just like in this sentence.
Why is there a se in front of reunieron?
The verb used here is reunirse, which means "to get together" or "to meet." The se shows that the students are doing this action with each other. Without the se, the verb reunir just means "to gather" or "to collect" something else (like collecting money or gathering documents).
Why do we use para instead of por before ver?
In this sentence, para expresses the purpose or goal of the action. A helpful trick is to see if you can say "in order to" in English. Since the students met "in order to" see a comedy, para is the correct choice.
Could we use the imperfect tense here instead of the preterite reunieron?
No, the preterite is needed here because of the word anteayer. Words that pinpoint a specific, completed timeframe in the past, like anteayer, ayer, or anoche, almost always trigger the preterite tense because the action has a clear beginning and end.

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