Learn Spanish (Latin America): El pretendiente me dio el cuestionario y preguntó qué quería saber. - The suitor gave me the questionnaire and asked what I wanted to know.

Word

El pretendiente me dio el cuestionario y preguntó qué quería saber.

Meaning

The suitor gave me the questionnaire and asked what I wanted to know.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Spanish (Latin America)

Lesson

Past indirect questions (preguntó si)

Breakdown of El pretendiente me dio el cuestionario y preguntó qué quería saber.

to know (facts) / to hear from (someone)

Questions & Answers about El pretendiente me dio el cuestionario y preguntó qué quería saber.

What was the original direct question the suitor asked, and why did the tense change here?

The original question was likely ¿Qué quieres saber? (What do you want to know?) in the present tense. When we report past speech using a past tense verb like preguntó, present tense verbs in the original quote shift back to the imperfect tense. That is why quieres becomes quería.

Why does qué still have an accent mark if there are no question marks in this sentence?

Question words like qué, cómo, and dónde keep their written accents when used in indirect questions. This signals that the word represents an underlying question ('what did I want to know?') rather than acting as a simple connector like the word 'that'.

Since quería can mean 'I wanted' or 'he wanted', how do we know who wanted to know?

Context usually makes it clear! Because he gave the questionnaire to me (me dio), it is strongly implied he is asking what I wanted to know. If it were ambiguous in conversation, you could clarify by adding a pronoun at the end, such as ...preguntó qué quería saber yo.

Is a pretendiente always a romantic suitor?