Question 1

Why is habría preguntado translated as "must have asked" instead of "would have asked"?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, the conditional perfect (habría + past participle) is frequently used to express a guess, probability, or conjecture about a completed action in the past. While it literally means "would have asked," it naturally translates to "must have asked" or "probably asked" in English.

Question 2

Since this lesson is about indirect questions, where is the indirect question here?

Accepted Answer

There actually isn't one! Instead of explicitly stating the reported question with a word like si (if/whether) or a question word like cuándo (when), this sentence just uses the neuter pronoun eso (that) to refer back to whatever was previously asked. An actual indirect question here would look like: Ella habría preguntado si la querían (She must have asked if they loved her).

Question 3

Why do we use por instead of para for "out of"?

Accepted Answer

Por is used here because it expresses the cause, reason, or motive behind an action. She asked the question because of her fear. You will often see por used this way with emotions, like por celos (out of jealousy) or por curiosidad (out of curiosity).

Question 4

Why does the sentence say miedo al rechazo instead of using de (of)?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, the noun miedo (fear) is usually followed by the preposition a when stating what someone is afraid of, rather than de. Here, a combines with the masculine definite article el (the) to form the mandatory contraction al.

Ella habría preguntado eso por miedo al rechazo.

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