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Ustedes prefirieron las escaleras oscuras.

Ustedes prefirieron las escaleras oscuras.
You preferred the dark stairs.
From Lesson 106:Preterite stem changes for -ir verbs·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Ustedes prefirieron las escaleras oscuras.

Why is it spelled prefirieron with an 'i' instead of preferieron?
Preferir is an '-ir' verb. In the preterite (past) tense, some '-ir' verbs change their stem vowel in the third-person forms (he, she, they, and ustedes). For preferir, that second 'e' changes to an 'i', making it prefirieron instead of preferieron.
Since ustedes means 'you all', why does it trigger this third-person change?
In Latin America, ustedes is the standard way to say the plural 'you' (you all). However, grammatically, it always uses third-person plural verb forms—the exact same ones used for ellos and ellas. Because it acts like a third-person pronoun, it triggers the 'e' to 'i' stem change in the preterite.
Why does oscuras come after escaleras?
In Spanish, descriptive adjectives like oscuras (dark) usually come right after the noun they describe. Notice that oscuras also ends in -as to match the feminine, plural noun las escaleras.
Is escaleras always plural when talking about stairs?
You can use either the singular la escalera or the plural las escaleras to talk about a single staircase or a flight of stairs. Both are very common. Fun fact: it can also mean 'ladder'!

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