"It was three days ago that we arrived."

Translation: 我们是三天前到的。

[Nate210731]

I dont quite understand why we use 是 or 的 in this sentence. Can someone explain that? I thought 我们三天前到了.

[Keith_APP]

The meaning is the same but the emphasis is different.
我们是三天前到的 the emphasis is on the time of arrival. Imagine a murder happened at your hotel and you are being interrogated by a police officer when you have started to be there.
我们三天前到了 the emphasis is on the state of having arrived; "3 days ago" is only given as an additional information. Imagine telling a friend who invited you to her wedding in another country that you have already arrived.

[Tang1100]

Can you please tell me what's the difference with 「三天前我們到了。」？
I really want to know.

[Keith_APP]

Grammatically, time placed at the very beginning is a contextual background of the whole sentence, whereas time placed immediately before the verb is an adverbial phrase. There is no difference in meaning.
I give you an example:
30 years ago, all shops close at 5pm.
With this sentence you can translate like this:
三十年前商店都在五点钟关门。
However it would be a little awkward to translate like this:
三十年前在五点钟商店都关门。
I am not saying it is wrong, but it would be confusing as 5pm is more describing the closing action, rather than on the phenomenon the whole sentence is about.

[TheTruth131]

是。。。的 the structure is mostly used for certain things. For example, 我是从美国来的

[Hi1van]

我们三天前到的 should be allowed

[Keith_APP]

Then 的 should not be used. No.

[hesesols]

Agreed.

[NasuSamaruk0]

Correct! That is acceptable.

[Ww981030]

我们三天前到的其实更地道

[fourthwall1]

There are so many errors in the accepted answers throughout the course, the above comments here also points that out.

[MelvinKang]

”我们三天前到“ also the answer

[Jingyi522300]

As a chinese, I wrote : 我们三天前到的(I missed "是")....

[JanHense]

三天前我們來到了 should be accepted, I would say.

[XiaZhang85]

來到了 is like "come to", which should be followed with the place of arriving.

[jXrY12]

True. Are you from China?

[Patrick_Dark]

Shouldn't this also accept "以前" ("我們是三天以前到的。")?

[knees02]

I don't think so?? "以前" Means "before", but is usually put at the front of the sentence and when you are certain of the amount of time, whereas "前" is usually put after a certain time. For example, "以前，我有隻狗" meaning "I had a dog before," and "三年前，我有隻狗" meaning "I had a dog 3 years ago."
Sorry if it's not clear, I'm kinda bad at explaining

[niamh230929]

Its wrong

[pierobonal]

Where is the ?

[MaxPlayne]

我们三天以前到达了 but seriously there are so many viable alternative translations to this it was hard to pick one

[MaxPlayne]

我们是三天前到达了 I am about to drop this course, I don't think they've put enough effort in including all reasonably acceptable options like they did in other languages

[alex977597]

Why is there no measure word between 三 and 天?

[MaxPlayne]

Because 天 is already a measure word in itself

[fourthwall1]

The 的 when omitted should also be a legitimate sentence!!!!

[Keith_APP]

IMHO, as a native speaker, I don't agree that is correct.