Qué, dónde, cuándo, cómo, por qué and cuánto are common questions words in Spanish.
Today, I will show you how to use these and other words to ask questions in the Spanish-speaking world.
Let’s dive right in!
Here’s a list of words you can use to ask questions in Spanish! (I’ll show you how and when to use them later on.)
That’s a long list, but don’t let it scare you.
Asking questions in Spanish is easier than you think!
Let’s start by learning how to ask the easiest type of questions. Look!
In Spanish, the questions that can be answered with a yes or a no don’t have any special structure.
Yes-no questions in Spanish are identical to any affirmative statement. How do you differentiate them then?
In the written language, they start and end with question marks (¿…?).
How about when you speak? Just raise your voice at the end of the statement.
Look and listen. Click the play button. Which statement is a question?
With the questions ¿no? and ¿verdad?, we ask someone to confirm something for us.
● Eres de Argentina, ¿no?
○ Correcto.
● Tienes amigos en Alemania, ¿cierto?
○ Sí, en Baden Baden.
Ready to practice a little bit? Remember, in Spanish, questions start and end with a question mark.
Place the question marks where they belong.
Policía: Usted se llama Daniel García, verdad
Daniel: Si, efectivamente.
Policía: Trabaja en la universidad de El Salvador, no
Daniel: Sí, así es.
Policía: Usted conocía a la difunta Marta Flores. Eran amigos o algo más
Daniel: Éramos simplemente conocidos.
Policía: Usted se llama Daniel García, ¿verdad?
Daniel: Si, efectivamente.
Policía: Trabaja en la universidad de El Salvador, ¿no?
Daniel: Sí, así es.
Policía: Usted conocía a la difunta Marta Flores. ¿Eran amigos o algo más?
Daniel: Éramos simplemente conocidos.
You just learned how to ask questions that can be answered with a yes or a no. Now, let’s learn to ask open questions.
Open questions start with the Spanish question words: cómo, cuándo, por qué, etc.
Let’s learn how to use cómo, qué tal, cuándo and dónde.
We use cómo, cuándo and dónde to ask about manner, time and place.
Place these Spanish question words at the beginning of the question.
These question words are usually followed by a conjugated verb.
● ¿Dónde vives? (Where do you live?)
● ¿Cuándo vienes? (When are you comming?)
● ¿Cómo vamos a Madrid? (How are we getting to Madrid?)
Place any other parts of the question, except object pronouns, after the conjugated verb.
Do you know what an object pronoun is? How about how it is used? Learn more about them in the post Spanish Direct Object Pronouns.
Use qué tal instead of cómo to ask someone to rate something.
Let’s see some examples!
● ¿Cómo estás?
● ¿Qué tal estás?
● ¿Cómo se vive en Madrid?
● ¿Qué tal se vive en Madrid?
● ¿Cómo hablas español?
● ¿Qué tal hablas español?
Ready to practice a little bit? Let’s go!
Complete the following questions about Spain with the words cómo, cuándo, or dónde.
Here are some patterns you can use to ask questions with cuánto, cuánta, cuántos and cuántas.
cuánto + verb
The verbs in this type of question must agree in number with the word that follows them. Let me explain.
Let’s use the verbs cuesta and cuestan. Cuesta is singular. Cuestan is plural. They are used to ask about prices.
If you want to ask how much a shirt costs, use cuesta. If you want to ask how much two shirts cost, use cuestan.
Let’s see some more examples.
● ¿Cuánto cuesta esta camiseta? (How much is this shirt?)
● ¿Cuánto cuestan estas sandalias? (How much are these sandals?)
● ¿Cuánto dura el viaje? (How long is the trip?)
Let’s learn about a different type of question with cuánto. This time, we will include cuánta as well.
cuánto / cuánta + non-countable noun
Words that cannot be counted don’t have plural forms. In English, for example, the word “money” is noncount.
English and Spanish have many noncount words in common. Dinero (money), agua (water), and ropa (clothing) are common Spanish noncount words.
Use cuánto to ask about masculine words such as dinero and tráfico. Use cuánta to ask about feminine words such as gasolina and agua.
Let’s see some examples!
● ¿Cuánto dinero necesitas? (How much money do you need?)
● ¿Cuánta gasolina tienes? (How much gas do you have?)
Cuántos and cuántas are used a bit differently. Let’s see!
