Me pregunto qué otras cosas . . . .

Question

The sentence I am trying to assemble is this:

Wait, first some background. I needed someone to help me accomplish something but I could not reach them. They were not where they were supposed to be. So the question in English is: "I wonder what else the could be doing."

I got this far:

Me pregunto qué otras cosas . . . .

Now, I am pretty sure that I came across a more appropriate verb for wonder or "I wonder" but I've also heard many people use preguntar for such purposes so fine.

Now, "they could be doing"

The first issue is "could be doing." Part of me wants to use the conditional form of hacer. However, (I know you aren't supposed to start a sentence with however but let that slide for now), the real problem is that I pretty sure that this clause needs to be in the subjunctive and there is no conditional subjunctive as far as I am aware. So I move on to something like "pueden haciendo" ending up with:

Me pregunto que otras cosas pueden haciendo.

First, help with with the notion of "I wonder" in the context of I wonder what is going on over there.

Second, help me with the second clause. Is it, in fact, properly subjunctive and, second, what is the proper form of the appropriate verb, verbs, gerund or present participle.

Thank you so much in advance.

Bob

Answer 1

Thanks Heidita. But I'm now very confused and I study as hard as anyone here so please bear with me. I'm not looking for someone to help me with my homework. I'm really trying to understand this stuff.

I know ocb, no doubt about that.-)

I can only go back to Lazarus on this, his explanation *of doubt or no doubt in subjunctive* works, I think.

Here you are making a statement, you are wondering something, but you are making a statement of what you are wanting to say. I wonder, me pregunto never carries subjunctive.

Me pregunto dónde está Pedro.

Me pregunto porqué hizo esto.

Answer 2

Thanks again Heidita. I printed out the discussion you linked and I'll study it tonight. I really appreciate the help.

Answer 3

Thanks Heidita. But I'm now very confused and I study as hard as anyone here so please bear with me. I'm not looking for someone to help me with my homework. I'm really trying to understand this stuff.

So, why is it not subjunctive? It involves me wondering about something that I can't know about with certainty (what the heck are these people doing who are supposed to be here working with me). So my focus is not about the conditional nature of what they are up to as much as the speculative question about what they are doing, which is a mystery to me, and why the heck aren't these people here where they are supposed to be.

If all that, in fact, leads to the use of the conditional vs. the subjunctive, I am totally confused about something I thought I was getting a handle on. Can you please help me make sense of it?

Please understand. I'm not one of these posters looking to argue. I'm really trying to understand.

Bob

If you were in any chance referring to me, I'm not here looking to argue. There are other things that would merit my time & arguing is not one of them. - Deanski, OCT 23, 2009

Oh, not at all. While some people do seem to like to argue here, your point was like mine: simply seeking clarification for the sole purpose of better understanding. - ocbizlaw, OCT 23, 2009

Thanks for clearing that up oc.. - Deanski, OCT 23, 2009

Answer 4

Here is the context:

I needed some employees to help me accomplish something but I could not reach them. They were not where they were supposed to be. So I say to my partner:

"I wonder what else the could be doing."

I'm pretty certain that he second clause ("what else could they be doing") calls for the subjunctive. What I'm not sure about is whether the subjunctive verb should be poder or hacer.

Does that make more sense?

Answer 5

"they could be doing" is "podrían estar haciendo"

So, it will be "Me pregunto qué otras cosas podrían estar haciendo."

Answer 6

ocb, supposing that you are wanting to write they,

Me pregunto qué estarían haciendo.

Me pregunto qué otra cosa podrían estar haciendo.

No , you don't use the subjunctive here, you use the conditional.

Question Heidi.. Can we also use más here instead of otra cosa? - Deanski, OCT 23, 2009

Answer 7

"Me pregunto si podrían estar haciendo otras cosas."

Hmm, is this what oc wanted to say:

I wonder if they might be doing something else/other things.

Answer 8

Hi ocb, a clear question will help further searches.

Me pregunto is perfect for starters.

"I wonder what else they could be doing."

Me pregunto qué otra cosa podrían hacer.

this is my first guess, why not put the sentence into situation so we can have context?