Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Qué edad tendría el volcán?

¿Qué edad tendría el volcán?

I wonder how old the volcano was.

Breakdown of ¿Qué edad tendría el volcán?

Questions & Answers about ¿Qué edad tendría el volcán?

Why does the translation say "was" when tendría means "would have"?

This is the main focus of your current lesson: using the conditional tense for probability or conjecture in the past. Instead of literally meaning "would have," tendría is used here to mean "I wonder how old it was" or "how old it must have been."

Why do we use qué edad instead of a direct translation of "how old"?

In Spanish, you talk about age using the verb tener (to have) rather than ser (to be). So instead of asking "how old is it," you ask "what age does it have" (qué edad) or "how many years does it have" (cuántos años). This applies to everything, from people to volcanoes!

How is this different from asking "¿Qué edad tenía el volcán?"?

Using the imperfect tense (tenía) turns this into a straightforward request for a fact: "How old was the volcano?" Using the conditional (tendría) changes the mood to guessing, estimating, or wondering.

Does this sentence have to be a rhetorical question?

Not necessarily, though it often is! You can use this structure to wonder aloud to yourself ("I wonder how old it was"), but you can also ask it to someone else to invite them to guess or speculate with you when neither of you knows the exact fact.