Phrase · 🕵️ Speculating about the past
Cuando llamé, ya habrían cerrado, porque nadie contestó.
When I called, they must have already closed, because nobody answered.
B2speculating pastAudio · coming soon
Why every word is where it is
CuandoconjunctionwhenllaméverbI calledllamar · past · 1st sing.,yaadverbalreadyhabrían1verbmust havehaber · conditional · 3rd pl.cerrado1verbclosedcerrar · participle · past · masc. · sing.,porqueconjunctionbecausenadiepronounnobodysing.contestó2verbansweredcontestar · past · 3rd sing..
- habrían → llamé: tense
- nadie → contestó: agree
Word for word: “When I called, they would already have closed, because nobody answered.”
Why it's built this way
The notes match the numbers above.
- 1habrían cerrado: conditional perfect of probability = they had probably closed before the moment of my call. Future perfect and the conditional of probability →
- 2contestar = to answer (the phone, a question, a message).
Variations
- Cuando llamé, ya habrían cerrado, porque nadie contestaba.