Breakdown of El sastre habrá cortado el forro para que el vestido quede perfecto.
el vestido
dress
para
for
que
that / than
cortar
to cut
perfecto
perfect
haber
(auxiliary) have
quedar
to turn out / end up
el sastre
tailor
el forro
lining
Questions & Answers about El sastre habrá cortado el forro para que el vestido quede perfecto.
Why does the Spanish sentence use habrá cortado (will have cut) to mean "must have cut"?
In Spanish, the future perfect tense isn't just used for actions that will be completed in the future. It is also commonly used to express a guess, assumption, or strong probability about a recent past event. So, habrá cortado literally means "will have cut," but it translates to "must have cut" or "probably cut" when making a conjecture.
Why is the verb quedar in the subjunctive mood (quede) here?
The phrase para que (so that) always requires the subjunctive mood. This is because it introduces a purpose or a goal that is intended but not guaranteed to happen as a definite fact. Therefore, the indicative queda becomes the present subjunctive quede.
If the cutting already happened, why use the present subjunctive (quede) instead of the past subjunctive (quedara)?
While the cutting was done in the recent past (conjectured with habrá cortado), the desired result of the dress fitting perfectly is still relevant right now or applies to an upcoming fitting. If the entire scenario were firmly anchored in the past, it would require the past subjunctive.
How does quedar translate to "fits" in this context?
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