Question 1

Why does dónde have an accent mark if this isn't a question?

Accepted Answer

It is an indirect question. The sentence doesn't have question marks, but dónde still acts as an interrogative word pointing to a specific but initially unknown location. In Spanish, words like qué, quién, cómo, and dónde always keep their accent marks in indirect questions.

Question 2

Why is the conditional tense (construirían) used here for "would build"?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of reported speech shifting the tense. When the mayor originally spoke, he likely used the future tense to say where they "will build" (construirán). Because the main verb of this sentence is in the past (explicó), that future action shifts to the conditional (construirían) to express a future event from a past perspective.

Question 3

The translation says "they would build," but couldn't construirían also mean "you all would build"?

Accepted Answer

Yes, construirían is the conditional form for both ellos/ellas (they) and ustedes (you all). Without extra context, we naturally assume it means "they" (the construction workers or the city). If the mayor had been talking directly to the builders, it could mean "where you all would build."

Question 4

Is there a strict rule for the gender of nouns ending in -e like puente?

Accepted Answer

Nouns ending in -e can be either masculine or feminine, so their genders generally have to be memorized. El puente is masculine. It helps to learn it alongside other common masculine -e words like el coche or el viaje, in contrast to feminine ones like la clase or la noche.

El alcalde explicó dónde construirían el puente.

Breakdown of El alcalde explicó dónde construirían el puente.

Questions & Answers about El alcalde explicó dónde construirían el puente.

Learn El alcalde explicó dónde construirían el puente and more in Spanish