Breakdown of ¿Cómo será ese planeta extraño?
ser
to be
cómo
how
ese
that (m.sg., also esa, esos, esas, eso)
extraño
strange
Questions & Answers about ¿Cómo será ese planeta extraño?
Why is the future tense será translated as 'I wonder what... is like'?
This is the Epistemic Future from your current lesson! In Spanish, you can use the future tense to express a guess or to wonder about something in the present. The speaker isn't asking what the planet will be like in the future, but rather wondering what it is like right now.
There is no Spanish word for 'I wonder' here. How does that work?
The 'I wonder' meaning is entirely built into using the future tense (será) in a question. When you ask a question using this future of probability, it naturally translates to 'I wonder...' or 'What might...?' in English. You don't need to add a separate verb to express the wondering.
Why do we say ese planeta instead of esa planeta if it ends in '-a'?
Because planeta is an exception. It is a masculine noun, so it needs the masculine word for 'that' (ese). It belongs to a tricky group of masculine words ending in '-a' that are often of Greek origin, just like el mapa, el problema, and el clima.
Why use cómo (how) when the English translation says 'what... is like'?
To ask for a description of physical traits or characteristics in Spanish, you always use cómo + ser (literally 'how is'). If you asked with qué instead, you would be asking for a definition, which would mean something like 'I wonder what a strange planet is.'