Breakdown of Tal vez encontrarán un planeta habitable en esa galaxia lejanísima.
un
a, an (masculine)
en
in / on / at
el planeta
the planet
esa
that (feminine)
encontrar
to find
tal vez
perhaps / maybe
la galaxia
galaxy
lejano
distant (in space or time)
habitable
habitable
Questions & Answers about Tal vez encontrarán un planeta habitable en esa galaxia lejanísima.
How is the absolute superlative lejanísima formed from the base adjective?
The base adjective is lejano (distant). To add the absolute superlative suffix, you drop the final vowel and add -ísimo. Because it describes the feminine, singular noun galaxia, the suffix must match its gender and number, becoming -ísima. Notice that adding this suffix always requires a written accent mark on the first í (lejanísima). This intensifies the meaning from "distant" to "extremely distant."
Since tal vez means "perhaps," shouldn't encontrar be in the subjunctive mood here?
Tal vez can actually take either the indicative or the subjunctive mood depending on the speaker's level of certainty. While the subjunctive is very common after it to express doubt, using the future indicative encontrarán shows that the speaker considers this a highly realistic prediction or a strong possibility, rather than just a wild guess.
Why is it un planeta and not una planeta?
Even though it ends in -a, planeta is a masculine noun. It belongs to a group of words (many of Greek origin) ending in -ma, -pa, or -ta that are masculine in Spanish. You will want to memorize it alongside other common rule-breakers like el problema, el mapa, and el idioma.
Since the galaxy is extremely distant (lejanísima), why use esa instead of aquella?
While aquella specifically points out something physically far away from both the speaker and the listener, esa is often used abstractly in conversation to mean "that one we were just talking about." Here, the speaker is referring back to a specific galaxy already brought up in context. The vast physical distance is handled by the adjective lejanísima, while esa simply points back to the established topic.
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