Wednesday, May 3, 2023

A Simple Approach to Asking Questions in Spanish

 You might think that this is a no-brainer.  Asking a question in Spanish is like asking a question in English, except there is an inverted question mark at the beginning of the sentence.  Yes, that is how a question (or, interrogative statement if you want to get technical) is indeed written, yet the way of forming a question in Spanish is much more in the spoken voice.  

In English, we also use our voice to express a question, by a slight inflection at the very end of the question, along with interrogative quiz words like Is", Are? and the 6 other interrogative words we learned in elementary school: who, what, when, where, why, and how.  

Spanish requires the same kind of pattern.  However, there is much more emphasis placed on the final syllables.  It also contains the following interrogatives: 


¿Quién?, or plural ¿Quiénes?  Who?

¿Quiénes son esas muchachas?  Who are those girls?


¿Qué?  What?

¿Qué es paella? ¿Un plato español?  What is paella? A Spanish dish?


¿Cuál? or plural ¿Cuáles? - Which? or Which ones?

¿Cuál es el celular suyo?  Which cell phone is yours?


¿Cómo?  How?

¿Cómo llegaste al aeropuerto? ¿Por taxi?  How did you get to the airport? By taxi?


¿Por qué?  Why?

¿Por qué quieres romper con Ashley?  Why do you want to break up with Ashley?


¿Cuándo?  When?

¿Cuándo es la fiesta?  When is the party?


¿Dónde?  Where?

¿Dónde está Caracas?  Where is Caracas?


¿Adónde?  Where? (when inquiring as to destination) 

¿Adónde vas?  Where are you going to?


Hope this helps!

Joel

Using "¿qué? and ¿cuál? in interrogative sentences; You know them better as "questions".

Both ¿qué? and ¿cuál? mean "what?" in English, but the verbs in Spanish change depending on where they are used.  " cuál &q...