Questions and question words Asking questions in Spanish

Tag questions Spanish has three types of questions: tag questions, yes/no questions, and information questions. Tag questions ask the listener to agree or disagree with what the speaker is saying. They are formed by adding ¿no? or ¿verdad? to the end of a statement. When the sentence is negative, only ¿verdad? may be used.

Tag question models Eres de Ecuador, ¿no? – You’re from Ecuador, aren’t you? Este libro es muy interesante, ¿verdad? – This book is very interesting, isn’t it? Él no es muy fuerte, ¿verdad? – He is not very strong is he?

Yes/No questions Yes/no questions can be answered with sí or no. These questions usually begin with a verb. The subject, if expressed, often comes at the end of the sentence. Also many times you use a rising intonation to imply a questions.

Yes/no models ¿Está bien usted? – Are you all right? ¿Te gusta la clase de inglés? – Do you like English class? ¿Conoce Julio a Paquito? – Does Julio know Paquito? ¿Ya están listos todos? – Is everybody ready?

Question words The third type are questions that request information. These questions begin with a question word. Note that all question words have an accent. Remember in Spanish, the preposition precedes the question word. Question words ¿Quién(es) – Who ? ¿Qué? – What? ¿Cuál(es)? – Which? What? ¿(A)Dónde? – (To) Where? ¿Cuánto? – How much? ¿Cuántos? – How many? ¿Cuándo? – When? ¿C ó mo? – How? What? ¿Por qué? – Why?

¿Quién and cuál While most question words have only one form, quién and cuál have two: singular and plural. ¿Quién es tu tía favorita? – Who is your favorite aunt? ¿Quiénes son esas chicas? – Who are those girls? ¿Cuál es tu abuelo? – Which is your grandpa? ¿Cuáles son tus clases favoritas? – Which are your favorite classes?

Cuánto When cuánto modifies a noun, it must agree in number and gender with that noun. It has four forms: cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas. When it does not modify a noun, it has only one form.

Cuánto models ¿C uánto helado quieres? – How much ice cream do you want? ¿C uánta tarea tienes? – How much homework do you have? ¿C uántos estudiantes hay? – How many students are there? ¿C uántas horas practicas? – How many hours do you practice?

Qué and cuál Both qué and cuál correspond to the English word what. They are not always interchangeable, however. Qué may be followed by a noun but cuál may not but it may be followed by de. Qué asks for a definition or an explanation. –¿Qué es un “mariachi”? – What is a mariachi? Cuál asks for a selection. –¿Cuál es tu primo? – Which is your cousin? –¿Cuáles de los libros mira Isabel? – Which of the books is Isabel looking at?