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How would I answer these two questions?

SpanishDict.com has this example sentence:

Fue en ese momento en el que me enteré del atentado terrorista.

It has this English translation:

It was at that moment that I found out about the terrorist attack.

Think about the English sentence, I think it could be the answer to two different questions:

  1. "When did you call me?"

  2. "When did you find out about the terrorist attack?"

(Without context, my answer to question #2 is a little vague.) Assuming I'm right about the English, is this also the case for Spanish? Are there other ways that you would answer these two questions?

In most cases there are probably easier ways to answer question #2, by using a time of day or something. But I'm trying to understand the grammar and structure.

(I think I can replace "momento" with "día" and this whole thing would still make sense.)

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  • 1
    Con "día" tiene sentido.
    – cocteau
    Oct 28, 2022 at 20:56

1 Answer 1

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The answer to "when?" can be any adverbial of time.

If the answer is:

  • Fue en ese momento en el que me enteré del atentado terrorista.

the question can be:

  • ¿Cuándo te enteraste del atentado terrorista?

You should note, however, that the answer is emphatic, and could be given in this context:

A. Ayer a las 6 estaba mirando TV.

B. ¿Y cuándo te enteraste del atentado terrorista?

A. Fue (justamente) en ese momento (ayer a las 6) en el que me enteré del atentado terrorista.

The emphasis is laid on the fact that it was exactly at 6 yesterday, when the person was watching TV, that he learned about the terrorist attack.

As explained here, we can also use "cuando" and, in Latin America, we can also use "que" alone:

A. Fue en ese momento (ayer a las 6) cuando me enteré del atentado terrorista.

A. Fue en ese momento (ayer a las 6) que me enteré del atentado terrorista.

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