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¿Estará planeando una venganza por el susto?

¿Estará planeando una venganza por el susto?
Could he be planning a revenge for the scare?
From Lesson 221:Ending up doing something (terminar, acabar)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¿Estará planeando una venganza por el susto?

Why is the future tense estará used here if the translation says "Could he be..."?
In Spanish, the future tense is often used to express a guess, probability, or wonder about the present. This is known as the "future of probability." By asking ¿Estará planeando...?, the speaker is essentially saying "I wonder if he is planning..." or "Could he be planning... right now?"
Why do we use por instead of para in por el susto?
We use por here because it explains the cause or reason for the action. He is planning revenge because of the scare. If you used para, it would sound like the revenge was an end goal or a gift meant for the scare!
How do we know the sentence means "Could he be planning" when there is no pronoun?
The verb estará can correspond to él (he), ella (she), or usted (you, formal). Without more context, this sentence could just as easily mean "Could she be planning..." or "Could you be planning...". The translation uses "he" assuming the surrounding conversation makes it obvious who is being discussed.
What verb is the noun susto related to?
Un susto means "a scare" or "a fright," and it comes from the verb asustar (to scare). You will often hear it used with dar to mean "to scare someone" (dar un susto) or with llevarse to mean "to get a scare" (llevarse un susto).

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