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Spanish future tense question | ||
Tags: Verbs/Conjugation | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6587 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 1 of 5 09 April 2014 at 8:40pm | IP Logged |
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So I'm watching a Mexican telenovela called "Mar de amor" and Estrella is in Playa Escondida, but Victor Manuel thinks she's in Mexico City. He's come there and he's thinking about her and the voiceover monologue goes:
"¿En qué lugar estarás?" This is the future tense, but he's obviously thinking about where she is now. What's up with that? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4295 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 2 of 5 09 April 2014 at 8:51pm | IP Logged |
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In Spanish, like with the other Romance languages, using the future indicative (futuro
de indicativo) when used for the present instead of the more literal and direct future for promises or sureity at a point of time in the future, indicates a tone of question or probability because the speaker does not know something and is wondering. «¿En qué lugar estarás?», speaking of the present, means not, "Where shall you be?", but rather, "Where (lit., in what place) could you possibly be?". The phrase cannot translate directly. In a more emphatic English (indirect) translation, it could also be, "Where oh where could you be?". So the speaker is wondering where she is. In demonstrative clauses, likewise the future used for the present represents probability, i.e., «¿Qué hora será?» --«Serán las veinte», or in English, "What time would it be right now?" --"Probably 20h00 (8 at night)". Or, «¿Dónde estará?» is not, "Where shall she be?", but rather, "Where could she be?" in a questioning (wondering) tone. An answer could be, «Estará en casa», or "She is probably home", which is different from the literal, "She shall be home". Edited by 1e4e6 on 09 April 2014 at 10:59pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6587 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 3 of 5 09 April 2014 at 9:15pm | IP Logged |
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Great answer. Thanks!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| outcast Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member China Joined 4954 days ago 869 posts - 1364 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English*, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 4 of 5 11 April 2014 at 4:16am | IP Logged |
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If I can add to that, hoping I won't confuse Ari, you can take this process a step further and use the future perfect to indicate what you THINK is a possible completed action ("could have happened already"). Using the example above:
¿En qué lugar estarás? - Where could you (possibly) be? If you think the action you are not sure happened has been completed, the future perfect comes in handy: ¿En qué lugar habrás estado? ("Where could you have been?") It is even possible to pose that question to the person itself, since the action you "think" he/she did is in the past, and they now stand in front of you. Using the future perfect instead of the more expected and factual "¿En qué lugar has estado / estuviste?", gives the question a clear feeling that you suspect he or she WAS indeed somewhere, but clearly do not know where exactly. It can also insinuate that you think such person was up to no good (literally or just playfully, as with a good friend). You would give the question with the future perfect a bit more intonation than a normal question, as if you were almost being sarcastic. Gosh, languages have so many nuances... I would know. PS- German uses a similar device with the future tense + "wohl": Sie wird wohl krank sein = Estará enferma = She might be sick = Elle será malade = Ela estará doente Edited by outcast on 11 April 2014 at 4:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Mountolive Pro Member United States Joined 4464 days ago 10 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 5 09 May 2014 at 3:22am | IP Logged |
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Similarly, the conditional tense also can be used to express possibility or conjecture in the past.
So future tense = possibilty in present conditional tense = possibility in the past 1 person has voted this message useful |
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