A simple question about future tense uses.

Question

While writing a email today (in Spanish), a question came to my mind. I wanted to write:

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"How long will you be staying there?"

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Ok I prefer to use the verb "permanecer" in this kind of case instead of "quedar". That being said I wrote and sent sentence #1. My question: Do not all 3 of these sentences convey the same meaning and have correct grammar (I know the translations are slightly different).

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1.) ¿Cuánto tiempo permanecerás ahí?

2.) ¿Cuánto tiempo estarás permanecer ahí?

3.) ¿ Cuánto tiempo te vas a permanecer ahí?

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I know I used the "future tense permanecerás" which I rarely would use -- but for some reason did. I think that is way I am asking for some opinions

Answer 1

2.) ¿Cuánto tiempo estarás permanecer ahí?

...estarás permaneciendo... future progressive.

the only other choice is to place an past participle adjective after estar, but it doesn't make sense in this case...

estarás permanecido.

The only difference between 1 and 3 is the degree of certainty (probablility) that you wish to express about whether you will actually be staying or not..

Ah -- I knew #2 sounded strange to my ears and you knew why. Thanks I got it! - Daniel, Oct 3, 2009

Answer 2

Me parece que la oracíon #2 no funciona. Las otras si.

Yea Joe you were correct about #2. - Daniel, Oct 3, 2009

Answer 3

1.) ¿Cuánto tiempo permanecerás ahí?

2.) ¿Cuánto tiempo estarás ahí? or vas a estar

3.) ¿ Cuánto tiempo vas a permanecer ahí?

Yes they have the same meaning, just the grammar needed a bit of adjusting.

The most common way I know is: "¿Cuánto tiempo vas a estar ahí?"