Question 1

Why are we using the conditional verbs harían and estarían if the English translation is in the past tense?

Accepted Answer

This is a special use of the conditional tense that you are learning in this lesson! Instead of meaning 'would do' or 'would be', it is used to express a guess, wonder, or probability about a past event. So ¿Qué harían? means 'I wonder what they did?' and estarían means 'they probably were'.

Question 2

Could I just ask ¿Qué hicieron? instead of ¿Qué harían?

Accepted Answer

You could, but it changes the feeling of the sentence. ¿Qué hicieron? is a direct request for facts: 'What did they do?' By using the conditional ¿Qué harían?, you are adding a layer of speculation, exactly like saying 'I wonder what they did?' or 'What do you suppose they did?'

Question 3

I know the word for happy is feliz, so why is it spelled with a 'c' in felicísimos?

Accepted Answer

When you add the suffix -ísimo (meaning extremely or super) to an adjective that ends in -z, that z changes to a c to maintain the same sound. Since the base word is feliz, it becomes felicísimo. It is then pluralized to felicísimos to match the group of people being talked about.

Question 4

Doesn't seguramente usually mean securely or safely?

Accepted Answer

While the adjective seguro can mean safe or secure, the adverb seguramente is most often used to mean 'surely', 'probably', or 'most likely'. It pairs perfectly with the conditional tense here to emphasize that you are making a very strong, confident guess about the past.

¿Qué harían? Seguramente estarían felicísimos.

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