Learn Spanish (Latin America): Sin embargo, estará sosteniendo el aire porque no hay nada. - However, he must be holding the air because there is nothing.

Sin embargo, estará sosteniendo el aire porque no hay nada.

However, he must be holding the air because there is nothing.

Breakdown of Sin embargo, estará sosteniendo el aire porque no hay nada.

no, not

estar

to be (location/state)

haber

to be (there is / there are)

porque

because

Questions & Answers about Sin embargo, estará sosteniendo el aire porque no hay nada.

Why is the future tense estará used here if the translation says "he must be holding" right now?

In Spanish, the future tense is often used to express a guess or probability about the present. By combining the future of estar (estará) with the gerund sosteniendo, we get the future progressive. Instead of meaning an action will happen in the future, it translates to "he must be holding" or "he is probably holding" right now.

Why use sosteniendo instead of other verbs for "holding" like agarrando or manteniendo?

The verb sostener implies physically supporting or holding something up, often in your hands, which fits the literal image of holding the air. In contrast, agarrar means to grab or grasp tightly, and mantener means to maintain or keep something in a certain state.

Could I just say sostendrá el aire instead of estará sosteniendo to mean the same thing?

You could, but it changes the nuance slightly. Using the simple future for conjecture (sostendrá) would mean "he must hold" or "he probably holds". Using the progressive form estará sosteniendo specifically emphasizes that the suspected action is unfolding at this exact moment.

How do we know who is holding the air if there is no subject pronoun before estará?