How many question words in Spanish are you familiar with? Do you know how to write a question in Spanish? Asking questions is one of the most important skills you need to master in the language you are learning. In this lesson, we will learn the most important interrogative words in Spanish. However, before we explore those words, let's discuss a couple of things about asking questions in Spanish.
'Pregunta' is how you say the word 'question' in Spanish. 'Pregunta' is a feminine noun and its plural form is 'preguntas'. Let's practice the pronunciation of this term:
Kevin, la pregunta es:
Kevin, the question is:
Caption 13, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 1
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Los voy a dejar con cuatro preguntas.
I am going to leave you with four questions.
Caption 48, Carlos explica - Tuteo, ustedeo y voseo: Ustedes y vosotros
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Do you know how to write a question in Spanish? Let's take a look at the basic structure of a question in Spanish.
To begin with, you need to stick to the rules of Spanish punctuation. Because of that, when you write a question in Spanish you need to remember that question marks are always double-sided. In other words, you need to start the question with an opening question mark (¿) and end it with a closing one (?):
¿Cómo es Japón?
What's Japan like?
¿Qué te gusta de Japón?
What do you like about Japan?
Captions 69-70, Clase Aula Azul - Pedir deseos
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Let's start with simple questions. Believe it or not, for these kinds of questions your intonation is what matters the most. You basically make Yes/No questions by transforming a statement into a question. The Spanish question structure for these kinds of questions is the following:
¿ + (subject) + conjugated verb + (additional information) + ?
Please note that the terms in parenthesis are optional. Let's see a couple of examples:
A Pedro le gusta comer pizza. (Pedro likes to eat pizza.)
¿A Pedro le gusta comer pizza? (Does Pedro like to eat pizza?)
For negative questions, you just need to place a "no" before the conjugated verb.
No quieres estudiar. (You don't want to study.)
¿No quieres estudiar? (Don't you want to study?)
Go ahead and play the following clips so you can hear the intonation of the following Yes/No questions. Notice how the pitch of the speaker's voice gets higher at the end of the sentence when asking questions in Spanish:
Mmm... ¿Quieres ir al cine?
Mmm... Do you want to go to the movies?
-Sí, ¡buena idea!
-Yes, good idea!
Captions 45-46, Conversaciones en el parque - Cap. 5: Me gusta mucho este parque.
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¿Necesitas ayuda?
Do you need help?
-Mmm... Sí.
-Mmm... Yes.
Captions 9-10, Español para principiantes - La hora
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¿No conoces Manhattan?
You don't know Manhattan?
Caption 37, Yago - 2 El puma
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As you can see, it is very common to start Yes/No questions with a conjugated verb.
The following is the Spanish question structure you need to keep mind when your question is aimed at getting some sort of information:
¿ + (preposition) + question word + conjugated verb + (additional information) + ?
Please note that the terms in parenthesis are optional. Let's see a couple of examples:
¡Oh! ¿Dónde está el cajero automático?
Oh! Where's the ATM?
Caption 36, Natalia de Ecuador - Palabras de uso básico
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In the example above, we have the following structure:
¿ + question word (dónde) + conjugated verb (está) + additional information (el cajero automático) + ?
Let's listen to another clip:
¿Desde cuándo tienes este piso?
Since when have you had this apartment?
Caption 35, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos
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In this last example, the Spanish question structure is the following:
¿ + preposition (desde) + question word (cuándo) + conjugated verb (tienes) + additional information (este piso) + ?
Now that we have seen the structure of a question, let's take a look at some Spanish question words in sentences.
It's time to review the most important interrogative words in Spanish. If you are thinking about WH questions, you are right. Let's find out what the Spanish question words are for 'what', 'which', 'when', 'where', 'who', 'why' and 'how'.
For your reference, here's a list of the top question words in Spanish.
What / Which (Qué / Cuál)
When (Cuándo)
Where (Dónde)
Who (Quién)
Why (Por qué)
How (Cómo)
Now, let's see each one of these question words in action with a list of some of the most basic Spanish questions you can ask.
And now, let's dive into our list.
What / Which (Qué / Cuál)
Diremos, "¿Qué hora es?"
We'll say, "What time is it?"
Caption 49, Español para principiantes - La hora
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O, ¿A qué te dedicas?
Or, What do you do? [with "tú"].
Caption 17, Karla e Isabel - Tú y Usted
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Oye, y ¿en qué trabajas?
Hey, and what do you do [for a living]?
Caption 82, Ricardo - La compañera de casa
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Por supuesto; ¿cuál es su dirección de correo?
Of course; what is your e-mail address?
Caption 69, Negocios - Empezar en un nuevo trabajo
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¿Recuerdas cuál era la copa para servir vino?
Do you remember which cup was the one for serving wine?
Caption 36, Ana Carolina - El comedor
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When (Cuándo)
¿Y cuándo hizo el "check-in"?
And when did he check-in?
Caption 13, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 3
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¿Cuándo terminas de estudiar?
When do you finish studying?
Caption 72, Carlos explica - Tuteo, ustedeo y voseo: Conjugación
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Where (Dónde)
¿De dónde eres?
Where are you from?
Caption 36, Curso de español - ¿De dónde eres?
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Y ¿en dónde vives?
And where do you live?
Caption 8, Cleer - Entrevista a Lila
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Let's see a couple of clips from Raquel to see the kind of questions you ask when you want to find out where something is located:
¿Me podrías decir dónde está el baño?
Could you tell me where the bathroom is?
Caption 7, Raquel - Expresiones para un festival de música.
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¿Sabes dónde hay alguna farmacia?
Do you know where there's a pharmacy?
Caption 24, Raquel - Expresiones para un festival de música.
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Who (Quién)
We use 'who' when we want to find out someone's identity. Let's see a couple of examples:
Mi jugador favorito juega en el Real Madrid.
My favorite player plays for Real Madrid.
¿Quién es?
Who is it?
Captions 19-20, El Aula Azul - Las Profesiones
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¿Usted quién es?
Who are you?
Roberto. Un amigo.
Roberto. A friend.
Captions 24-25, Yago - 9 Recuperación
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Why (Por qué)
¿Por qué dices eso? -No...
Why are you saying that? -No...
Caption 14, Cortometraje - Beta
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How (Cómo)
Para saludar, podemos decir: "Hola. ¿Cómo estás? ¿Todo bien?"
To greet (people), we can say: "Hello. How are you? (Is) everything good?"
Caption 7, Español en las calles - Varias expresiones
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Keep in mind that the word 'cómo' is not always translated as the English word 'how'. In fact, one of the most basic Spanish questions you can ask is a good example of that:
Buenos días, ¿cómo te llamas?
Good morning, what's your name?
Caption 8, La rutina diaria - La mañana
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When we want to find out someone's age or the price of an object, we combine 'how' with other words such as 'old' or 'much'. When we want to get that kind of information, we use other interrogative words in Spanish. Let's take a look:
Ah, lindo.
Oh, nice.
¿Cuánto cuesta?
How much does it cost?
Captions 33-34, Natalia de Ecuador - Palabras de uso básico
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¿Cuántos años tienes?
How old are you?
Caption 6, Cleer - Entrevista a Lila
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Ah, vale. ¿Cuántos hijos tienes?
Oh, OK. How many sons do you have?
Caption 39, Clase Aula Azul - El verbo parecer
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¿Y cuántas botellas de agua hay aquí?
And how many bottles of water are there here?
Caption 78, Español para principiantes - Los números del 1 al 100
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And that's it for now. We hope you use this review of the most important Spanish question words as the perfect excuse to start asking questions in Spanish. Are you ready? We encourage you to do that and don't forget to send us your questions and comments.
Let's talk about adverbs! In this lesson, we have a big match: afuera vs. fuera. Do you know the meaning of these two words? Let's explore how to use and pronounce these frequently used Spanish adverbs.
As an adverb, afuera refers to a place that is outside of where you are:
Todo lo malo me pasa dentro de esta casa, no afuera.
All the bad things happen to me inside this house, not outside.
Caption 20, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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Similarly, the adverb fuera is used to talk about the exterior part of something:
Puedes ir a tomar café a una cafetería fuera de la escuela.
You can go to drink coffee at a cafe outside of the school.
Caption 17, El Aula Azul - Las actividades de la escuela
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If you want to indicate that someone is going outside, toward the exterior, or even abroad (with verbs of movement), you can use either afuera or fuera. Both forms are correct and are used indistinctly in both Spain and Latin America. Let's see some sentences:
Vení, vamos afuera.
Come, let's go outside.
Caption 28, Yago - 9 Recuperación
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Cuando los cuatro compañeros nos fuimos a estudiar fuera.
When we four friends went to study abroad.
Caption 7, Escuela de Pádel Albacete - Hablamos con José Luis
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When you want to indicate that someone or something is outside, or when you want to make a reference to the outside world, you use fuera in both Spain and Latin America. However, it is also very common to use afuera throughout the Americas. Let's hear the pronunciation of these two words one more time:
¡Qué lindo que está afuera! ¿No? El clima está divino.
How nice it is outside! No? The weather is divine.
Caption 15, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto
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Me doy una buena ducha aquí fuera.
I take a good shower here outside.
Caption 31, Amaya - "Mi camper van"
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Both afuera and fuera can be used as interjections. Generally speaking, you use these interjections when you ask someone to leave a place.
¡Suficiente, fuera de mi casa!
Enough, out of my house!
Caption 61, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 4
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There are several useful idiomatic expressions with the word fuera. Let's see some of them:
Este hombre vive fuera de la realidad, Señoría.
This man lives outside of reality, Your Honor.
Caption 36, Los casos de Yabla - Problemas de convivencia
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Su ropa está fuera de moda.
His clothes are out of fashion.
Caption 8, Extr@: Extra en español - Ep. 1 - La llegada de Sam
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No hay nada fuera de lo normal.
There isn't anything out of the ordinary.
Caption 38, Negocios - Empezar en un nuevo trabajo
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That's it for today. We hope this review helps you to use correctly the adverbs fuera and afuera. As you could see throughout this lesson, more than talking about afuera vs fuera, we should really treat this subject as afuera = fuera! Keep that in mind and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions.
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