Breakdown of Preguntan cuánto cuestan el fotógrafo y la decoración.
y
and
cuánto
how much
preguntar
to ask
costar
to cost
el fotógrafo
the photographer
la decoración
the decoration
Questions & Answers about Preguntan cuánto cuestan el fotógrafo y la decoración.
Why does cuánto have an accent mark here if there are no question marks?
In Spanish, question words like cuánto, dónde, and qué keep their written accent marks in indirect questions. Even though this is reported speech rather than a direct question, the accent remains to show it is an interrogative word.
Why is the verb cuestan placed before el fotógrafo y la decoración?
English changes the word order in reported questions, moving the verb to the end ('how much they cost'). Spanish does not. It is much more natural to keep the verb right after the question word, placing it before the subject, just like in a direct question.
Why is the verb cuestan in the plural form?
Since this is reported speech, do we need to change the tense of the verb cuestan?
Not in this case. You only need to shift the tense backwards (for example, from present to past) if the main reporting verb is in the past tense. Because preguntan (they ask) is in the present tense, the reported verb cuestan stays in the present tense too.
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