Formation of Yes/No Questions and Negation (La formación de preguntas de sí o no, y la negación)

Statements versus Questions In spoken and written Spanish, statements are normally formed by placing the subject at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the verb and an object, if any. Érica habla francés. Questions that require a yes-or-no answer are often formed by placing the subject after the verb, especially when requesting new information. ¿Habla Érica francés? Does Érica speak French?

Statements versus Questions To express disbelief about information already given, maintain the word order for statements, but with rising intonation (called an echo question). ¿Érica habla francés? Érica speaks French? (Really?) In spoken Spanish, all yes-or-no questions are identified by rising intonation at the end of the question, regardless of word order. ¿Habla Érica francés?

Statements versus Questions A yes-or-no question can also be formed by adding a tag word or phrase at the end of a statement. Tag questions are also used to confirm given information and have rising intonation over the tag itself. Érica habla francés, ¿no? Érica speaks French, doesn’t she? Érica habla francés, ¿verdad? Érica speaks French, right? Érica habla francés, ¿no es así? Érica speaks French, isn’t that so?

Question Marks and Intonation (Los signos de interrogación y la entonación) An inverted question mark (¿) is always placed at the beginning of a question word or phrase, and another right-side-up question mark (?) at the end. ¿Cómo? Pardon? How’s that again? ¿Cómo es tu profesor? What is your professor like? While in English, word order or the helper verb do normally indicate a question, in Spanish, word order for questions and statements can be identical, and Spanish has no equivalent to the helper verb do. Thus, in written Spanish, the inverted question mark alerts the reader that a question follows. Juan habla inglés. Juan speaks English. ¿Juan habla inglés? Does Juan speak English?

Question Marks and Intonation (Los signos de interrogación y la entonación) Again, with yes-or-no questions in spoken Spanish, the speaker’s intonation is the indicator of the question. ¿Eres estudiante? Are you a student? Eres estudiante. You are a student. With questions that do not require yes or no in the answer, intonation is not an indicator; instead, we listen for the question word at or near the beginning of the phrase. ¿De dónde es? Where is he from? Es de California. He’s from California.

Negation We are not from Spain. Érica doesn’t speak French. We make a sentence negative in Spanish by simply placing no before the verb. Érica no habla francés. Érica doesn’t speak French. Be careful, though. In Spanish, the no is always before the verb, even when its equivalent (not, etc.) is after the verb in English. Nosotros no somos de España. We are not from Spain.

Negation No, no habla francés. No, she doesn’t speak French. When we answer a yes-or-no question negatively, the word no followed by a comma also precedes the verb phrase. ¿Habla Érica francés? No, no habla francés. The first no simply negates the question. The second no is the equivalent of doesn’t. No, she doesn’t speak French.

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