Fuimos

Fuimos is the first-person plural form of the Spanish verb in the pretérito indefinido (simple past) for the subject nosotros. It serves as the past tense for two different verbs: ser (to be) and ir (to go). Depending on the context, fuimos can mean either “we were” or “we went.”

Etymology and origin: The form arises from the Latin perfect forms that developed into the Romance languages. For ser, the Latin first-person plural perfect is fuimus, and for ir the corresponding form is ivimus. In the development of Spanish, these forms converged in the same spelling and pronunciation, giving fuimos as the standard preterite form for both ser and ir in the nosotros form.

Conjugation and related forms: Fuimos is irregular in the sense that it is shared by two different verbs in a single tense. The other persons in the pretérito indefinido for both ser and ir are distinct: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron. The dual origin of fuimos means that, without surrounding context, the exact meaning (were vs. went) may be ambiguous.

Usage notes: In everyday Spanish, fuimos is most commonly interpreted from context. Examples include: Fuimos al cine ayer. (We went to the cinema yesterday.) Fuimos felices ese verano. (We were happy that summer.) In narrative writing, the form helps to convey past events efficiently when the meaning is clear from adjacent verbs and temporal phrases.

See also: The distinction between ser and ir in other tenses and persons is maintained by separate forms in most contexts, but the nosotros form in the preterite remains fuimos for both verbs.