Inglês na Ponta da Língua

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HOW DO YOU SAY “SERÁ QUE” IN ENGLISH?

Hello guys! Here we are again with another Inglês na Ponta da Língua
Podcast. On this episode, I’ll be answering a question that I’ve been often
asked here on the blog: how can we say “será que” in English? To make it
much more interesting, I’ll also teach you how to say “por que será
que...?”, “onde será que...?”, “como será que...?”, “o que será que...?” e
“quem será que...?”. So, sit up straight and pay attention! I hope you
enjoy this tip.

In Portuguese, when we are not so

sure about something, it is common
to ask a question using the sentence
“será que...?”. To give you an idea of
what I’m talking about here, there
you go some examples:

• Será que isso vai funcionar?

• Será que ele vai vir pra festa?
• Será que ela vai conseguir?
• Será que eles já chegaram em casa?

Notice that the sentence “será que...?” is being used to express doubt
about something or to show that you’re worried about something or
someone. If you speak Portuguese, I’m sure you know how that works.
But, what about in English? How do we say that in English?

This very same idea is usually expressed in English by using the

expression “I wonder if...”. The interesting thing here is that in
Portuguese, we ask a question: “será que...?”. But, in English, they just
say “I wonder if...” and that is not a question at all.

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So, the example sentences I gave above will be said as follow in English:

• I wonder if that is going to work. (Será que isso vai funcionar?)

• I wonder if he is coming to the party. (Será que ele vai vir pra
festa?)
• I wonder if she’s going to make it. (Será que ela vai conseguir?)
• I wonder if they got home already. (Será que ele já chegaram em
casa?)

As you can see, it’s really easy to say “será que...?” in English. All you
have to say is “I wonder if...”. Before going on, I have to add here that
some people also say “I wonder whether...”. There’s no difference
between them. So, you can say either “I wonder if...” or “I wonder
whether...”. The meaning will be exactly the same. However, keep in
mind that “I wonder if...” is much more common than “I wonder
whether...”.

Now let’s say you want to say “quem será que...?” What would you say?
How do they say that in English? Pretty easy! Just say “I wonder
who...”. No big deal, right? Just use the expression “I wonder” and the
word “who”, which means “quem”, after it and that’s it. Listen to the
examples:

• I wonder who did that to her. (Quem será que fez isso com ela?)
• I wonder who told him that. (Quem será que contou isso pra ele?)
• I wonder who she’s going to get married to. (Com quem será que
ela vai se casar?)

What about “por que será que...?”? How to say that in English? Well,
think about it! All you have to do is to use the expression “I wonder” with
the word “why”. So, you’ll have “I wonder why...”. Again, listen to the
examples:

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• I wonder why they are crying. (Por que será que elas estão
chorando?)
• I wonder why he’s here. (Por que será que ele está aqui?)
• I wonder why she did that. (Por que será que ela fez isso?)

If you want to say “como será que...?”, just say “I wonder how...”. Notice
that once more, we have the expression “I wonder” followed by the word
“como” in English, which is “how”.

• I wonder how they did that. (Como será que eles fizeram isso?)
• I wonder how she’s getting on. (Como será que ela está se
virando?)
• I wonder how he got here first. (Como será que ele chegou aqui
primeiro?)

By now, I guess you already got the idea. What you have to do is to use the
expression “I wonder” and change the wh-question word after it. So, to
say “onde será que...”, use “I wonder where...”; “o que será que...?”, say
“I wonder what...”.

• I wonder where she is now. (Onde sera que ele está agora?)
• I wonder where she bought that. (Onde será que ela comprou
isso?)
• I wonder what she wants now. (O que será que ela quer agora?)
• I wonder what she told him. (O que será que ela disse pra ele?)

Pretty easy, right? The secret, if we can call it a secret, is to use the
expression “I wonder” and the exact wh-question word after it. Nothing
too hard, is it? To make it simpler, let me put all this info in a different
way:

• To say “Será que...?”, say “I wonder if”

• To say “Quem será que...?”, say “I wonder who”
• To say “Por que será que...?”, say “I wonder why”
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• To say “Como será que...?”, say “I wonder how”

• To say “O que será que...?”, say “I wonder what”
• To say “Onde será que...?”, say “I wonder where”

So, what do you think? Easy? Hard? Anyway, get used to these
expressions. Use them whenever you have the chance to. Search the web
for some more examples. Write your own examples on your lexical
notebook. Make them part of your active vocabulary. I’m sure you’ll be
using them naturally really soon.

Well, that’s it for today, boys and girls. Before saying goodbye, I want to
invite you to download other episodes of Inglês na Ponta da Língua
Podcast on www.inglesanpontadalingua.com. If you’re listening to our
podcasts on iTunes, please let me know what you’re thinking about all
that work here. Go to iTunes Store and give me some feedback so that I
can make it better for you. See you next time with another Inglês na
Ponta da Língua Podcast. Take care!

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