Breakdown of Capaz que aparenten estar felices por haber ganado el premio.
feliz
happy
estar
to be (location/state)
ganar
to win / to earn
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
haber
(auxiliary) have
el premio
the prize
capaz que
maybe / perhaps
aparentar
to pretend / to feign (to give the appearance of)
Questions & Answers about Capaz que aparenten estar felices por haber ganado el premio.
Why is aparenten in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative?
The phrase capaz que (a very common colloquial way to say 'maybe' or 'it is possible that' in Latin America) can be followed by either the indicative or the subjunctive. Using the subjunctive (aparenten) emphasizes a stronger degree of doubt—the speaker is less certain that they are actually pretending than if they had used the indicative (aparentan).
Doesn't aparentar mean 'to appear'? Why is it translated as 'pretend' here?
Aparentar means 'to give the appearance of' or 'to feign.' While it often translates to 'appear,' when someone is deliberately faking an emotion or state, 'pretend' is the most natural English fit. Remember the classic false friend: the Spanish verb pretender usually means 'to intend' or 'to expect,' not 'to pretend.'
Why do we use the infinitive estar right after aparenten, instead of something like que estén?
When the subject of the first verb is exactly the same as the subject of the second verb (they pretend, they are happy), Spanish connects them directly using the infinitive. If the subjects were different, you would need que followed by a conjugated verb.
Why is it por haber ganado instead of just por ganar?
Using the perfect infinitive (haber + past participle) shows that the action of winning happened before the action of pretending to be happy. If you said por ganar, it would sound like they are happy about the general idea of winning or for a victory that hasn't happened yet. We use por here because it introduces the reason or cause for their happiness.
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