Breakdown of Ahora bien, compré el cartucho, pero no hay en qué llevar el bloc.
pero
but
no
no, not
comprar
to buy
en
in / on / at
haber
to be (there is / there are)
qué
what
llevar
to take (carry, transport)
ahora bien
however / now then (that being said)
el bloc
the notepad
el cartucho
the cartridge
Questions & Answers about Ahora bien, compré el cartucho, pero no hay en qué llevar el bloc.
Why is there an accent on qué in no hay en qué llevar?
In negative existential structures like no hay (there isn't) or no tengo (I don't have), the relative word acts like an embedded question. You can think of it as 'there is no answer to the question: in what to carry the notepad'. Because it functions like a question word, qué takes a written accent mark.
Why does en come before qué instead of at the end of the sentence like in English?
Spanish never ends a sentence or clause with a preposition. The preposition must always come immediately before the question word or relative pronoun it belongs to. While English says 'nothing to carry the notepad in', Spanish must say 'nothing in which to carry the notepad', becoming no hay en qué llevar.
Could I use the subjunctive here instead of the infinitive llevar?
You use the infinitive here because there is no specific change of subject; it is a general statement that applies to anyone, or implies the speaker. If you wanted to specify that there is nothing for someone else to carry it in, you would introduce a new subject and use the subjunctive, such as no hay en qué lo lleves (there is nothing for you to carry it in).
What exactly does the phrase ahora bien mean here?
Ahora bien is a very common discourse marker at the B2 level that translates well to 'now then', 'having said that', or 'however'. It is used to transition to a new point, a condition, or a slight contrast to a fact that was just established.
Is bloc a normal Spanish word for a notepad?
Yes, el bloc is widely used in Latin America to refer to a notepad, a writing pad, or a sketchpad. It is an accepted borrowing from the French and English words for a block of paper, and you will sometimes see it spelled as block.
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