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Primero comimos y al final tomamos café.

Primero comimos y al final tomamos café.
First we ate and in the end we had coffee.
From Lesson 171:Sequencing past events·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Primero comimos y al final tomamos café.

Since eating happened before having coffee, why don't we use the past perfect (habíamos comido)?
When we tell a story in chronological order using words like primero (first) and al final (in the end), we just use the simple preterite tense for the whole sequence. You would use the past perfect if you were looking backwards from a later point in time, for example: When we had coffee, we had already eaten (Cuando tomamos café, ya habíamos comido).
Why use tomamos instead of bebimos for drinking coffee?
In Latin America, the verb tomar (to take) is the most common way to talk about having a drink. While beber is perfectly correct, you will hear tomar used much more often for everyday beverages like coffee, tea, water, or beer.
Could I use por fin instead of al final here?
They have different vibes. Al final simply means "at the end" of a series of events, which fits perfectly here. Por fin means "finally" or "at last," which would imply you were waiting a long time and were relieved to get your coffee!
Why is there no article before café?
We don't use the article el here because we are talking about an unspecified amount of coffee in general. If you were referring to a specific cup of coffee that was already mentioned, you would say tomamos el café.

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