Narrative time sequences with "a los... de..."
When recounting a story or listing historical milestones, you will often want to say that something happened a certain amount of time after a previous event. In Spanish, you can express this using the structure a los + time period + de.
When the trigger event is an action, follow de directly with an infinitive verb.
| Two years after founding the team, the supporters became demanding. | A los dos años de fundar el equipo, la afición se volvió exigente. |
| Hey, three days after signing the player, they started to train. | Oye, a los tres días de fichar al jugador, se pusieron a entrenar. |
If the previous event is a noun rather than a verb, simply place the noun after de. Remember that if the noun is masculine and singular, de and el must combine to form the contraction del.
| Four months after the signing, the coach left him on the bench. | A los cuatro meses del fichaje, el entrenador lo dejó en el banquillo. |
| Fifteen minutes into the match, the supporters sang the anthem. | A los quince minutos del partido, la afición cantó el himno. |
This structure is especially useful when talking about sports histories, such as a player's debut or a team being promoted (ascender) or relegated (descender).
| Ten minutes after making his debut, he scored the draw. | A los diez minutos de debutar, marcó el empate. |
| Five years after being promoted, we won the championship. | A los cinco años de ascender, ganamos el campeonato. |
| Six months after being relegated, every player was very sad. | A los seis meses de descender, cada jugadora estaba muy triste. |
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