Question 1

Why is era used here instead of the conditional, since this lesson is about the conditional tense in reported speech?

Accepted Answer

In reported speech, the tense depends on the original quote. Here, the shareholder likely asked, ¿Es rentable? (Is it profitable? - present tense). When the reporting verb (preguntó) is in the past, a present tense quote shifts to the imperfect (era). If he had originally asked ¿Será rentable? (Will it be profitable? - future tense), then you would use the conditional: preguntó si la fusión sería rentable.

Question 2

Accionista ends in an -a, so why does it use the masculine article el?

Accepted Answer

Nouns ending in -ista (like dentista or artista) do not change their ending based on gender. Instead, the article tells you the gender of the person. El accionista refers to a male shareholder, while la accionista would refer to a female shareholder.

Question 3

Why do we use era (from ser) instead of estaba (from estar) for the word profitable?

Accepted Answer

We use a form of ser because being profitable (rentable) is seen as a defining characteristic or quality of this merger, not a temporary physical state, location, or mood.

Question 4

Why doesn't si have an accent mark in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Without an accent mark, si means if or whether, which is exactly what we need here to report a yes-or-no question. If it had an accent mark (sí), it would mean yes.

El accionista preguntó si la fusión era rentable.

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