¿Les habrá estropeado....?

[marmoset]

I was using the following article for translation practice and I'm having a hard time with the last sentence of the paragraph below.

http://co.noticias.yahoo.com/blogs/e...invisible.html

"El uso de esta tecnología también está siendo probado por el ejército de EEUU para la utilización de tanques invisibles, permitiendo que pasen desapercibidos cuando están inmersos en conflictos armados. ¿Les habrá estropeado el truco la campaña lanzada por Mercedes?"

I think the sentence translates to, "Will they/it (the army) have ruined the campaign trick launched by Mercedes?" But, is "Les" Mercedes? And why isn't it, "el truco DE la campaña"? What am I missing here?

Thanks in advance.

[Rusty]

'Campaign trick' don't belong together. The sentence has two pieces:
les habrá estropeado el truco
-and-
la campaña lanzada por Mercedes

The second piece is a clause acting as the subject ('the campaign launched by Mercedes').

The first piece contains the verb, an indirect object and a direct object.
Don't forget that the future perfect construction 'habrá (participio pasado)' can be translated as 'I wonder if (subject) (present-tense verb or is/has + present participle/past participle)'.

The phrase 'estropearles el truco' can be translated as 'ruin the trick for them'. The indirect object 'les' can only refer to something that is plural, so it must be that the writer has shifted gears; thinking about the individuals that constitute the army instead of the entity.

¿Te habrá ayudado con la traducción? ('I wonder if that helps you with your translation.')

[marmoset]

Great explanation, Rusty, thank you.
I didn't know (or completely forgot) that about future perfect.

So,
"I wonder if the campaign launched by Mercedes ruins the trick for them (the army)."

Right?

[Rusty]

That sounds right to me.

[marmoset]

So are there some important nuances between "me pregunto" and the future perfect tense to mean "I wonder"?

Are the following equivalent in meaning?
"¿Le habrá estado enfermo?"
"Me pregunto si esté enfermo."


Thanks

[Rusty]

The simple future tense is used to express probability, so, no, your sentence wouldn't be interpreted that way.

Habrá estado enfermo. = He must have been sick. (Note there's no 'le'.)

In this sense, the original sentence above could have been translated as 'The campaign launched by Mercedes must have ruined the trick for them', but I thought it sounded more like a 'I wonder if' question.


Estará enfermo. = I wonder if he's sick.
Me pregunto si está enfermo. = I wonder if he's sick.

Check out what this site has to say about using the future tense to express probability.