Breakdown of Ellos no sabían cuándo inaugurar la exhibición.
no
no, not
ellos
they
cuándo
when
saber
to know (facts) / to hear from (someone)
Questions & Answers about Ellos no sabían cuándo inaugurar la exhibición.
Why does cuándo have an accent mark here if it is not a direct question?
Even though there are no question marks, this is an indirect question. Spanish uses the written accent on interrogative words like cuándo, qué, and dónde whenever they introduce an indirect question or express a state of not knowing, especially after verbs like saber or preguntar.
Can I always put an infinitive directly after an interrogative word, like in cuándo inaugurar?
Yes! Just like in English, you can use a question word followed directly by an infinitive to express "when to do" something. This works because the subject doing the main action (ellos) is the same subject that will do the inaugurating. If the subjects were different, you would have to conjugate the second verb.
Why is the imperfect tense sabían used here instead of the preterite supieron?
How would I change this sentence to say "They didn't know how soon to inaugurate the exhibition"?