Learn Spanish (Latin America): El pasajero hizo una pregunta en el mostrador. - The passenger asked a question at the counter.

El pasajero hizo una pregunta en el mostrador.

The passenger asked a question at the counter.

Breakdown of El pasajero hizo una pregunta en el mostrador.

Questions & Answers about El pasajero hizo una pregunta en el mostrador.

Why does the sentence use hizo (made) instead of a word for "asked"?

In Spanish, you do not "ask" a question, you "make" one. The common phrase is hacer una pregunta. Since the passenger did this in the past, we use the preterite form hizo. You could also just use the verb preguntar on its own (like el pasajero preguntó), but if you use the noun pregunta, it must be paired with hacer.

Since hacer is an i-stem verb in the past tense, why is it spelled hizo and not hico?

You are right that hacer changes its stem to hic- in the preterite. For most forms, it keeps the c (like hicimos). But if we wrote hico, the c would make a hard k sound. To keep the soft s sound of the original verb, the c changes to a z in the third-person singular form, giving us hizo.

Why use en el mostrador for "at the counter"? Doesn't en mean "in"?

The preposition en is very flexible and translates to "in", "on", or "at" depending on the context. When talking about a physical location, like being at a desk, counter, or building, en is the standard word to use.

Does mostrador come from the verb mostrar (to show)?