Questions & Answers about El banquete de ayer fue fenomenal.
Why use fue instead of era here? Don't we usually use the imperfect for descriptions in the past?
While era is typically used for background descriptions (like what the room looked like or the mood of the crowd), we use the preterite (fue) to sum up or evaluate a completed event as a single whole. Since the banquet is completely finished, saying fue fenomenal acts like giving the entire event a final 5-star rating.
Why is it phrased as el banquete de ayer instead of having a specific word for "yesterday's"?
Would fenomenal change its ending if we used a feminine noun instead of el banquete?
No, it would stay exactly the same. Adjectives that end in a consonant (like -l, -r, or -n) generally do not change to match gender. If you were talking about yesterday's dinner (la cena de ayer), it would still be fue fenomenal. You would only change it if the noun were plural (adding -es to make fenomenales).