Breakdown of Si tuviera el dinero, sabría dónde hacer el posgrado.
tener
to have
dónde
where
hacer
to do / to make
el dinero
money
saber
to know (facts) / to hear from (someone)
si
if
el posgrado
postgraduate degree
Questions & Answers about Si tuviera el dinero, sabría dónde hacer el posgrado.
Why do we say dónde hacer instead of conjugating the verb?
This is an indirect question using an infinitive! In Spanish, just like in English, when the subject of the main verb is the exact same person who will do the action in the indirect question, you can simply use a question word (like dónde) plus an infinitive (hacer). It directly translates to "where to do."
Why is the verb tuviera used instead of tiene or tenía?
Tuviera is the imperfect subjunctive form of tener. We use it here because this is a hypothetical "if" clause about a situation that isn't real right now. In Spanish, to say "If he had..." (but he actually doesn't), you must use the imperfect subjunctive after si. It naturally pairs with the conditional verb sabría ("would know") in the second half of the sentence.
Why does dónde have an accent mark if there are no question marks in the sentence?
Question words like qué, cómo, cuándo, and dónde always keep their written accent marks when they introduce an indirect question. Even though there are no question marks, "where to do the postgraduate degree" is still an embedded question, so dónde needs its accent.
The translation says "If he had the money." Could this sentence also mean "If I had the money"?
Yes, absolutely! Both tuviera and sabría are the exact same conjugated forms for yo (I), él (he), ella (she), and usted (you, formal). Without more context, this sentence could just as easily mean "If I had the money, I would know..." You would rely on the surrounding conversation to know exactly who is being talked about.
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