Word
Eles terão interrogado o homem durante a noite.
Meaning
They must have interrogated the man during the night.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Eles terão interrogado o homem durante a noite.
eles
they (m)
o homem
the man
ter
to have
a noite
the night
Questions & Answers about Eles terão interrogado o homem durante a noite.
Why does this sentence use the future perfect (terão interrogado) to mean 'must have', which is an assumption about the past?
Is there a more conversational way to say 'must have interrogated'?
The subject is plural (Eles). Why doesn't the participle become plural too (interrogados)?
When you build a compound tense using the auxiliary verb ter, the past participle never changes to agree with the subject. It always stays in the masculine singular form (interrogado). It would only agree with the subject if you were using the passive voice with ser or estar, like in Os homens foram interrogados.
Could I say de noite instead of durante a noite here?
You could, but durante a noite is usually a better fit for this sentence. durante a noite points to a specific timeframe (during the course of that specific night), whereas de noite is more general, meaning 'at nighttime'. In a police or investigative context, pointing to the specific time period is more natural.