Breakdown of Capaz que un meteoro atraviese el cielo esta noche.
un
a, an (masculine)
la noche
the night
que
that / than
esta
this (feminine)
Questions & Answers about Capaz que un meteoro atraviese el cielo esta noche.
Doesn't the word capaz usually mean 'capable'? How does it mean 'maybe' here?
You are exactly right! Literally, capaz que comes from the idea that 'it is capable of happening' or 'it is possible that'. In colloquial Latin American Spanish, it has simply evolved into a very common, casual way to say 'maybe' or 'perhaps', just like tal vez or a lo mejor.
Why is the subjunctive verb atraviese used here instead of the indicative atraviesa?
After the colloquial phrase capaz que, you can actually use either! Using the subjunctive (atraviese) makes the event feel a bit more doubtful or hypothetical, like saying a meteor might cross. Using the indicative (atraviesa) makes it sound like a slightly stronger prediction. Both are correct and very common.
The infinitive is atravesar. Why does it have an 'i' in atraviese?
Atravesar (to cross) is a stem-changing verb. The second e changes to ie whenever the spoken stress falls on the stem. This happens in the present subjunctive form for 'it' (a meteor), giving us atraviese. The ending is -e because it is an -ar verb in the present subjunctive.
Would it be wrong to drop the que and just say Capaz un meteoro atraviese...?