Learn Spanish (Latin America): Los huéspedes no durmieron bien ayer.

Los huéspedes no durmieron bien ayer.

The guests did not sleep well yesterday.

Breakdown of Los huéspedes no durmieron bien ayer.

no, not

los

the (masculine plural)

Questions & Answers about Los huéspedes no durmieron bien ayer.

Why is it durmieron with a 'u' instead of an 'o' like in dormir?

In the preterite (simple past) tense, some -ir verbs have a stem change, but only in the third-person forms (he/she/it/you formal, and they/you all). For dormir, the 'o' changes to a 'u'. Since los huéspedes is a 'they' subject, we use durmieron. Forms like 'I slept' keep the 'o': dormí.

Does huéspedes mean 'hosts' or 'guests'? It looks a bit like 'host'.

Huéspedes means 'guests', usually referring to people staying at a hotel or in someone's home. It is a false friend because it looks a bit like the English word 'host', but a host in Spanish is actually an anfitrión.

Where does the 'did' from 'did not sleep' go in the Spanish sentence?

Spanish doesn't use helper words like 'did' or 'do'. The past tense meaning is built directly into the verb durmieron (they slept). To make it negative, you simply put no right in front of the verb: no durmieron (they did not sleep).

Could I use bueno instead of bien here?

No, because bien means 'well' and is an adverb, which means it describes the action (how they slept). Bueno means 'good' and is an adjective used to describe nouns, like a good bed (una cama buena).