Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

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'.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

Is a pretendiente always a romantic suitor?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily. While it traditionally means a romantic suitor, pretendiente is also widely used to mean a candidate, applicant, or claimant for a job, grant, or position. Because this sentence mentions a cuestionario (questionnaire), it is very likely talking about an applicant rather than a romantic date!

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

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