How would you have the ability to get to know someone if you don’t know the best Spanish questions to ask them? Simple! You don’t.
Without having the prior knowledge of the basic simple questions, how would you get to know someone?
Aside from that, how would you be able to keep the conversation flowing naturally?
Questions are not only a crucial part of a conversation, but they also help someone to retrieve crucial information.
Questions are not only important in terms of continuing a conversation; however, they also give you the opportunity to learn something new. By asking someone simple questions, this gives the recipient the ability to provide information, to give an opinion, to explain, or to clarify.
To begin, start with these basic Spanish questions and continue to grow your vocabulary.
The 5 Ws and 1 H in Spanish
Similar to English, these are the most common questions that are found in Spanish. As a note, when these 5 Ws are used as a question, they all have an accent mark included. However, when they are used as a statement, the accent is omitted.
Who? (¿Quién(-es)?)
When you are asking about a specific person, you ask ¿quién? Additionally, if there is more than one person that you are asking about, you would make the question plural by saying ¿quiénes? However, there is more than one way to use the relative pronoun in Spanish.
Whom
If you are trying to say “whom,” then the question that you would ask is ¿A quién? For example, if you are trying to ask “For whom are you working?” Then, the appropriate Spanish question that you would ask is “¿A quién trabajas?
With Whom
If you are trying to say “with whom,” then the question that you would ask is ¿Con quién? For example, if you are trying to ask “With whom am I speaking?” Then, the appropriate Spanish question that you would ask is “¿Con quién hablo?”
Whose
If you are trying to say “whose,” then the question that you would ask is ¿de quién? For example, if you are trying to ask, “Whose books are these?” The Spanish version of the question would be “¿De quiénes son estas libros?
Here are a few examples with Quién(-es):
- ¿Quién es? – Who is it?
- ¿Quiénes son? – Who are they?
- ¿De quién son estos lapices? – Whose pencils are these?
What/Which – ¿Qué?/¿Cuál?
“What” can be expressed in two different ways: qué and cuál. When asking a question that begins with qué, there is only one possible answer. On the other hand, a question that begins with cuál is used either to ask for an opinion or as a choice between two options. Also, in some cases, cuál has a close resemblance to the word “which”. Here are a few examples with Qué and Cuál:
- ¿Qué haces? – What are you doing?
- ¿Qué es esto? – What’s this?
- ¿Cuál es tu color favorito? – What is your favorite color?
- ¿Cuál es tu comida favorita? – What is your favorite food?
If something you are asking about is plural, cuál becomes cuáles. For example, in the last example, if the question was “what are your favorite foods?” Then, the question asked would have been “¿Cuáles son tus comidas favoritas?
When? (¿Cuándo?)
When in Spanish is easily translated to cuándo. However, please note that cuándo cannot be used when asking someone for the time (hours and/or minutes). When a question is dealing with time, the question would begin with qué hora as in “¿Qué hora es?” which means “What time is it?”
Here are a couple of examples with cuándo:
- ¿Cuándo es tú cumpleaños? – “When is your birthday?”
- ¿Cuándo vas a volver? – “When are you coming back?”
Where? (¿Dónde?)
Where in Spanish is translated to dónde. However, it has two different meanings depending on where the preposition is placed in the question. For example, ¿Adónde? means “to where?” and ¿De dónde? means “From where?”
Here are a few examples with dónde:
- ¿Dónde está mi carro? – “Where is my car?”
- ¿Adónde va William? – “Where is William going?”
- ¿De dónde es Lisa? – “Where is Lisa from?”
Why? (¿Por qué?) – For what reason
Why in Spanish is translated to ¿por qué? Furthermore, it wants to know the reason why something was done.
Here are a few examples with ¿por qué?:
- ¿Por qué estas saliendo? – Why are you leaving?
- ¿Por qué vas a dormir temprano? – Why are you going to sleep early?
- ¿Por qué esta lloviendo? – Why is it raining?
Why? (¿Para qué?) – For what purpose
Why in Spanish can also be translated to ¿para qué? Additionally, it wants to know the purpose behind why something is done.
Here are a few examples with ¿para qué?:
- ¿Para qué estudias matematicas? – Why do you study mathematics?
- ¿Para qué vas al doctor cada mes? – Why do you go to the doctor every month?
- ¿Para qué trabajas? – Why do you work?
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