Ask clear everyday questions

What you’ll learn

• Choose a question word for the information you need.
• Use opening and closing question marks.
• Distinguish por qué in a question from porque in an answer.

Ask for a specific missing detail

Choose qué for what, quién for who, dónde for where, cuándo for when and cómo for how. Cuánto asks an amount and changes to agree when it modifies a noun: cuántos libros, cuántas personas. These interrogative words carry written accents. They can also keep the accent in an indirect question such as No sé dónde vive.

Use the opening mark ¿ as well as the closing ?. A simple question does not need an equivalent of English do: ¿Trabajas aquí? is complete. You can leave out a subject pronoun when the verb and context identify it. If you include a subject, word order depends on what information is being emphasized; start with the short models here.

Ask why and check understanding

Por qué is two words and has an accent when asking why. Porque is one word in an ordinary because answer: ¿Por qué estudias español? — Porque me gusta. Do not swap the forms just because they sound similar. Qué and cuál also differ by construction; ¿Cuál es tu nombre? and ¿Qué libro lees? are useful starting models.

A yes-or-no question may have the same word order as a statement, with different intonation and question marks. Give a short answer and add one detail. When you do not understand, ask ¿Puedes repetir? or ¿Qué significa...? These repair phrases let you stay in Spanish while finding the information you need.

Useful vocabulary

dónde

where

cuándo

when

por qué

why

Common mistakes

• Include the accents in question words such as dónde and qué.
• Do not add an English do/does auxiliary.
• Use por qué for the question and porque for a because answer.

Keep these ideas

• Choose a question word that matches the information gap.
• Write both Spanish question marks.
• Use clarification questions to keep a conversation going.

Use it in your life

Write five different questions about one short story. Answer each question using information actually present in the text.

Read it in context

Look for this lesson’s ideas in a complete Spanish story. Read the passage first, then use its translations to check your understanding.