Breakdown of ¿Estará palpando un cristal invisible?
un
a, an (masculine)
estar
to be (location/state)
el cristal
the glass
invisible
invisible
palpar
to feel (with hands)
Questions & Answers about ¿Estará palpando un cristal invisible?
Why is the future tense estará used here if the translation is 'Could he be...' happening right now?
This is the core of your current lesson: using the future tense to express a guess or probability about the present. The future progressive (estará palpando) translates well to 'I wonder if he is feeling...' or 'Could he be feeling...?' right at this moment.
Could this sentence also literally mean 'Will he be feeling an invisible glass' in the future?
Yes! Grammatically, estará palpando can simply mean an action that will be ongoing in the future. You have to rely on context to know if the speaker is making a guess about right now (conjecture) or asking about a planned event later.
Why use palpar for 'feeling' instead of sentir?
Does cristal refer to a drinking glass here?
No. A drinking glass is a vaso. While cristal can mean crystal, it is also widely used to refer to a sheet or pane of glass, like a windowpane or a glass wall. Vidrio (the material glass) would also work here, but cristal is very natural for an invisible barrier.
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