Learn Spanish (Spain): Fue una casualidad increíble; ella paseaba y de repente se encontró con su padre. - It was an incredible coincidence; she was strolling and suddenly she ran into her father.

Fue una casualidad increíble; ella paseaba y de repente se encontró con su padre.

It was an incredible coincidence; she was strolling and suddenly she ran into her father.

Breakdown of Fue una casualidad increíble; ella paseaba y de repente se encontró con su padre.

she / her (after a preposition)

a, an, some

Questions & Answers about Fue una casualidad increíble; ella paseaba y de repente se encontró con su padre.

Why do we use paseaba (imperfect) but se encontró (preterite) in the same sentence?

This is the classic pattern of a background action interrupted by a sudden event. Paseaba (she was strolling) sets the scene using the imperfect tense. The sudden event that happens during her walk is se encontró (she ran into), which uses the preterite tense.

How does the phrase de repente affect the verb next to it?

De repente means suddenly. Because it introduces an action that happens quickly and at a specific moment, it tells us to use the preterite tense for the action that follows, which is se encontró here.

Why is there a se before encontró and a con after it? Doesn't encontrar just mean to find?

Yes, encontrar alone means to find. But when you use it with the pronoun se and the preposition con to make encontrarse con, the meaning changes to running into someone or meeting them by chance.

Why does the sentence start with fue instead of era? Isn't a coincidence a description?

You could use the imperfect era if you were just setting the scene for an ongoing story. But using fue (the preterite of ser) sums up the entire encounter as one completed fact: that specific event was an incredible coincidence.