“Serán las tres”: a future that is not about the future
CEFR B2 · part 2
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
“Quería que vinieras”: the tense drags the mood with itMatching the subjunctive to the main verb: present with present (“quiero que vengas”)…“Sin embargo”, “por tanto”, “en cambio”The connectors that hold an argument together, and what each one promises: “sin…“Fue construido” or “estaba construido”Telling the action apart from the state it leaves behind: “la puerta fue cerrada a las…“Un momentito”: the diminutive is not about sizeWhat “-ito” really adds: affection (“abuelita”), politeness (“un momentito”), softening…“Acabar de”, “acabar con”, “acabar por”Verbs whose meaning changes entirely with the preposition: “acabar de/con/por”, “dar…“Me alegro de que vengas”: feelings take the subjunctiveThe subjunctive after anything that reacts to a fact instead of reporting it: “me alegro…The rule, in three lines
Spanish guesses with a TENSE: the future for a guess about now (serán las tres, estará en casa) and the conditional for a guess about the past (serían las tres cuando llegó).
The usual slip. Reading them as real futures and misunderstanding the sentence, or never producing them and saying probablemente every single time.
Why it catches you out. English guesses with modals: “it must be three o'clock”, “he'll be at home” — and that last one is the closest you have. Spanish uses the future for this constantly, which is why “¿dónde estarán mis llaves?” confuses you the first twenty times: it is not asking where they WILL be.