"Byli jsme kamarádi a potom jsme se do sebe zamilovali."

Translation: We were friends and then we fell in love with each other.

[JBHayven]

What is the difference between "kamarádi" and "přátelé"? Is the former less affectionate?

[VladaFu]

That will differ between different speakers and will change in time, decade to decade. And now, that "my přítel" in singular means more and more exclusively just "my boyfriend" in many contexts, it is changing even more. You can treat it as a synonym for practical purposes.

There are some nuances, a group of children is more likely "kamarádi", but "přátelé" is also possible.

If anything, then "přátelé" might be better in formal situations. In some situations "kamarádi" might be too much evoking a group you go to pub with or a group of children. And if you want to demonstrate strong affection to a dear friend, "přítel" is probably better.

But as I said already, "přítel" also tends to mean "boyfriend" more and more, so to avoid that meaning many might use just "kamarád". Especially in singular.

But it is better to look into a good dictionary and corpus to see all situations and examples. http://bara.ujc.cas.cz/psjc/search.php?hledej=Hledej&heslo=p%C5%99%C3%ADtel&where=hesla&zobraz_ps=ps&zobraz_cards=cards&pocet_karet=3&ps_heslo=p%C5%99%C3%A1tel%C3%A9&ps_startfrom=0&ps_numcards=0&numcchange=no&not_initial=1 http://bara.ujc.cas.cz/psjc/search.php?hledej=Hledej&heslo=kamar%C3%A1d&where=hesla&zobraz_ps=ps&zobraz_cards=cards&pocet_karet=3&ps_heslo=p%C5%99%C3%ADtel&ps_startfrom=0&ps_numcards=523&numcchange=no&not_initial=1 https://kontext.korpus.cz/view?ctxattrs=word&attr_vmode=visible&pagesize=40&refs=%3Ddoc.title&q=~gNdYNY7nRw&viewmode=kwic&attrs=word&corpname=syn2015&attr_allpos=kw https://kontext.korpus.cz/view?ctxattrs=word&attr_vmode=visible&pagesize=40&refs=%3Ddoc.title&q=~oGZiWIIP4E&viewmode=kwic&attrs=word&corpname=syn2015&attr_allpos=kw

[Stepanka2011]

Why is "We were friends and then fell in love with each other" not accepted ? I am not a native but still doubt the "we" is strictly necessary.

[VladaFu]

I will allow this.

[Stepanka2011]

Hi, I read many of your comments with interest. Are you bilingual ?

[standa.lepi]

Neměl by zde být předminulý čas? V minulosti jsme se zamilovali a ještě předtím jsme byli přátelé.

[VladaFu]

Je tu možný.

[standa.lepi]

Děkuji za rychlou odpověď. Jen mi není jasné, že zde jde použít v časové souslednosti stejný čas v obou částech souvětí. Vše, co jsem o časech pochopil, tímto neplatí.