Spanish Draft 1. 

Voy a ver unos amigos esta noche. Nos encontramos en el centro del ciudad. No había verlos hace un ańo y [I'm looking forward to seeing them]. Los dos son compañeros de trabajo antes de mi jubilacion.

DeepL: Esta noche voy a ver a unos amigos. Hemos quedado en el centro de la ciudad. Hace un año que no los veo y tengo muchas ganas de verlos. Ambos son compañeros de trabajo de antes de mi jubilación.

English (what I was intending): I'm going to see some friends tonight. We are meeting in the center of town. I haven't seen them in a year and I'm looking forward to seeing them. They are both co-workers from before my retirement.

Questions & Reflections

Esta noche voy a ver a unos amigos – My original word order was corrected. I’m not sure if there’s a rule here for that. I also forgot the personal “a.” At least I know that rule but I often forget it. 

Hemos quedado- instead of “nos encontramos.” Did some research on this: “hemos quedado” is when we meet by agreement and “nos encontramos” is when we met by chance or ran into one another. So, I understand the correction here. 

Hace un año que no los veo – Need to research further. I wrote “No había verlos…” which I thought meant “I haven’t seen them…” Also, word order changed. Just like sentence #1, the corrected version begins with a reference to time “esta noche” or “hace un año” Is that the pattern? 

tengo muchas ganas de verlos – Just didn’t know this phrase. I didn’t know how to say “I’m looking forward to…”

Ambos – I know “ambos” as “both,” but is “los dos” incorrect?de antes- I didn’t use “de” to indicate “from before…”