Question 1

Why does quién have an accent mark here if it's not a direct question with question marks?

Accepted Answer

Even though this is an indirect question (reported speech), interrogative words like quién, qué, dónde, and cuándo always keep their written accent marks. The boss is indirectly asking "Who is it?", so quién still acts as a question word.

Question 2

In English, we change the word order for indirect questions ("who the photographer is"). Why doesn't Spanish do this?

Accepted Answer

In Spanish, the word order in an indirect question usually stays exactly the same as in the direct question. The direct question would be ¿Quién es el fotógrafo? (Who is the photographer?), so the indirect version just plugs that straight in: ...saber quién es el fotógrafo.

Question 3

The boss is female (la jefa), but the photographer is el fotógrafo. Could it be la fotógrafa?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Here, el fotógrafo is masculine, which could mean the specific photographer they are expecting is male, or they are just using the generic masculine to ask who is doing the job today regardless of gender. If they knew the assigned photographer was a woman, they would say la fotógrafa.

Question 4

Why is saber in the infinitive here instead of conjugated?

Accepted Answer

When you have two verbs working together for the same subject, the first verb is conjugated (quiere) and the second verb stays in its dictionary form, the infinitive (saber). This directly translates to the English structure "wants to know."

La jefa quiere saber quién es el fotógrafo hoy.

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