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Por cierto, acabo de coincidir con la gerente.

Por cierto, acabo de coincidir con la gerente.
By the way, I just ran into the manager.
From Lesson 415:Topic shifting (por cierto, a propósito)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Por cierto, acabo de coincidir con la gerente.

How does por cierto work here as a topic shifter?
Por cierto translates to "by the way." It's used to introduce a new topic that might be loosely related to the current conversation or just something you suddenly remembered. It is one of the most common ways to shift a topic naturally in everyday Spanish.
I thought coincidir meant "to agree." Why does it mean "ran into" here?
While coincidir often means to agree with someone or share an opinion, when used with con and a person in a physical context, it means to cross paths or run into someone by chance. It's a very natural alternative to encontrarse con.
A quick refresher: why is acabo de translated as "I just"?
The structure acabar de followed by an infinitive (here, coincidir) is a fixed phrase meaning "to have just done" something. Even though the action happened in the past, acabar is conjugated in the present tense (acabo) to show that the completion of the action is connected to right now.
Why does the word for manager end in "-e" instead of "-a" for a female manager?
Words ending in "-ente" are traditionally invariable in Spanish, meaning they don't change for gender. In Spain, la gerente is the standard way to refer to a female manager. You simply change the article to la to show that the person is female.

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