Tendrá future tense

Question

Here is a sentence from a book: "Tendrá hijos? piensa Ana." I think it translates as Does he have children? My question is why is this in the future tense? It could be translated as Will he have children? But this makes no sense in the context.

Answer 1

Great question, illustrates nicely a point regarding future tense in Spanish.

In Spanish, the future tense can be used to express a tentative idea in the present- something you are wondering about. So essentially- might he have children?

http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/94

Uses of the Simple Future

While the simplest way to describe the future what a person “will” do, there are a few subtleties that also include making assumptions about the present, making predictions about the future, and giving solemn commands. There are also several instances where you will not use the simple future in Spanish even though you may use “will” in English.

1. Making assumptions about the present (probably)

Because the future is unknown, it is understandable that we would use the simple future tense to talk about suppositions or predictions about the present time as well. You can use the simple future to offer a guess about something. This is the most common usage of the simple future in Spanish.

• Anita estará en la playa ahora. (Anita is probably at the beach right now.) • • Los niños tendrán hambre. (The children might be hungry.) • • Pasaré mis vaccaciones en Costa Rica este verano. (I will probably spend my vacation in Costa Rica this summer.) • • ¿Dónde estarán mis llaves? (Where could my keys be?)

:) - ian-hill, Sep 14, 2014

Great answer too. :) - rac1, Sep 14, 2014

Good answer, Bosque :) - FELIZ77, Sep 15, 2014

Gracias, Bosque. - RolloMartins, Sep 15, 2014

De nada. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 15, 2014