1. Questions and question words Asking questions in Spanish

2. 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.

3. 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?

4. 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.

5. 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?

6. 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?

7. ¿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?

8. 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.

9. 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?

10. 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?