¿Qué habrá sido de Tony y Phil Tracker?

[Tyrn]

Hi,

De cualquier modo, ¿qué habrá sido de Tony y Phil Tracker?

What do you suppose happened to Tony and Phil Tracker, anyway?

qué habrá sido looks somewhat like the English what will have happened. Still, I can't really wrap my head around it :thinking: .

[Rusty]

In this instance, ser de is a phrasal verb meaning 'become of.'
In the future perfect tense, it means 'will have become of.'

In English, we can also understand this phrasal verb to mean the same thing as 'will have happened to.'

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Rusty. This structure in a question asks about what is happening or happened to a person:

- Cuéntame, ¿qué es de ti? -> I'm asking how you're doing after a long time we haven't talked to each other.

- ¿Qué será de Pedro? -> I haven't had any news from Pedro for a while (but you expect you might hear from him some time in the near future).

- ¿Qué habrá sido del maestro Rocha? -> This is someone from whom you haven't heard for a really long time. You may not even have a way to re-establish any contact with him or find anyone who knows how he's doing.

- ¿Qué será de mí? -> You're anxious about what will happen to you in the (near) future.