¿Qué idiomas hablas? The interrogatives qué, cuál, and quién
n the previous article, we saw an introduction to interrogative sentences in Spanish. In this series of articles, we will examine interrogative particles in detail, their use with prepositions, and more. In this particular article, we will look at the interrogatives qué, cuál, and quién, and specifically the difference between qué and cuál, a frequent source of confusion for those learning Spanish.
Qué.
The interrogative qué is one of the most widely used in Spanish and has different syntactic functions. Like all interrogatives, it always carries a written accent: the word que, without an accent mark, has different syntactic functions than qué. As a neutral interrogative pronoun, it is used to ask about things, concepts, definitions, or actions, accompanied by a verb.
¿Qué es esto? (What is this?)
¿Qué necesitas? (What do you need?)
¿Qué hiciste ayer? (What did you do yesterday?)
As an interrogative adjective, accompanied by a noun, it is used to ask about one or several things or people in a group, about the class or type of things that make up a group, or about the quantity in which the noun it modifies occurs, especially in the case of some uncountable nouns in singular.
¿Qué libro estás leyendo? (What book are you reading?) Out of all books.
¿Qué películas te gustan? (What movies do you like?) Out of all movie genres.
¿Qué edad tienes? (How old are you?).
The interrogative qué is frequently combined with different prepositions to ask about different things. Let’s look at combinations, functions, and examples.
¿A qué? To ask about purpose, destination, or time. ¿A qué has venido? (What have you come for?) (For what purpose?) ¿A qué hora sales? (At what time are you leaving?)
¿Con qué? To ask about instrument or means. ¿Con qué escribiste la carta? (With what did you write the letter?) ¿Con qué vas a pagar? (With what are you going to pay?)
¿De qué? To ask about material, topic or content. ¿De qué está hecho este mueble? (What is this furniture made of?) ¿De qué hablaron en la reunión? (What did you talk about in the meeting?)
¿En qué? To ask about place, means of transport or moment. ¿En qué piensas? (What are you thinking about?) ¿En qué autobús vas a viajar? (On which bus are you going to travel?)
¿Por qué? To ask about cause or reason. ¿Por qué no viniste ayer? (Why didn’t you come yesterday?) ¿Por qué estudias español? (Why do you study Spanish?)
¿Para qué? To ask about purpose or objective. ¿Para qué necesitas el dinero? (What do you need the money for?) ¿Para qué sirve esto? (What is this used for?)
It is possible, for example, and this is something that confuses Spanish students, to ask ¿Por qué aprendes español? and ¿Para qué aprendes español? In the first case, we are asking about the reason, and we could answer “aprendo porque me gusta” (I learn because I like it) and in the second case, we are asking about the purpose, and we could answer “para leer El Quijote” (to read Don Quixote). In this article, you can read more about the differences between por and para.
Cuál, cuáles.
This interrogative is used to select among limited or known options. It has a singular form, cuál, and a plural form, cuáles, and does not change according to the grammatical gender of the noun. It asks about the identity of one or several things within a set of known or limited options.
¿Cuál es tu color favorito? (What is your favorite color?)
¿Cuáles son tus llaves? (Which ones are your keys?)
¿Cuál es el problema? (What is the problem?)
¿Cuáles flores te gustan más? (Which flowers do you like more?)
As we pointed out above, the difference between qué and cuál can be a headache for Spanish learners. Because yes, you can ask “¿Qué libro estás leyendo?” and “¿Cuál libro estás leyendo?” and no, they are not interchangeable nor do they mean exactly the same thing, although both questions could be answered with the same response. To understand this, we need to review the concepts of deictic and anaphoric references, concepts that may seem boring but for me, as a language geek, are very interesting. Deictic references are those that refer to extralinguistic elements, that is, from the situation or context in which the communicative act takes place. To put it simply, a deictic reference cannot be understood unless we are in the place where the communicative act occurs. An anaphoric reference, on the other hand, is one that refers to elements that have already been named in the discourse even though they are not in the situation where the communicative act takes place. That is, if we read a dialogue that occurred in a specific situation, we will be able to understand the anaphoric references, but not the deictic ones. Let’s look at a brief example.
– No encuentro mi bufanda. (I can’t find my scarf.)
– ¿La roja o la azul? (The red one or the blue one?)
– La roja. (The red one.)
– Está ahí, mira. (It’s there, look.)
In that brief dialogue, “la roja” is an anaphoric reference to the red scarf, so just by reading the dialogue, we can understand it. “Ahí,” on the other hand, is a deictic reference to the place where the red scarf is, so by reading the dialogue, it is impossible to know what place “ahí” is. This is the difference in the use of qué and cuál when they seem interchangeable: qué is used to refer to something without deictic or anaphoric reference, that is, to the general group of things we are referring to, and cuál is used to refer to something with deictic or anaphoric reference, that is, to a limited and known subgroup of certain things. Let’s look at examples.
– ¿Qué libro estás leyendo? (What book are you reading?)
– El Código da Vinci. (The Da Vinci Code.)
In this context, we are asking what book the person is reading among all the books that exist.
– Me compré estos tres libros. (I bought these three books.)
– ¿Y cuál estás leyendo? (And which one are you reading?)
– El Código da Vinci. (The Da Vinci Code.)
In this context, we want to know which of those three particular books the person is reading: we use cuál because there is a clear reference to a limited group of books. The answer is the same, but the intention of the question is different.
The Case of the Verb “Ser”.
When we use qué plus the verb ser, we are specifically asking for the definition of something. Thus, in this case, if we want to know a particular element from an unlimited list of something but we must use the verb ser, we use cuál instead of qué even if the list is not limited. Let’s look at examples.
¿Cuál es tu nombre? (What is your name?) – From all the names that exist. (¿Qué es tu nombre? Ungrammatical).
¿Cuál es tu comida favorita? (What is your favorite food?) – From all the foods that exist. (¿Qué es tu comida favorita? Ungrammatical).
¿Cuál es tu dirección? (What is your address?) – From all the addresses that exist. (¿Qué es tu dirección? Ungrammatical).
Use of cuál with prepositions: combinations, functions, and examples.
¿A cuál/cuáles? Select destination among options. ¿A cuál de los conciertos asistirás? (Which of the concerts will you attend?) ¿A cuáles de estas ciudades has viajado? (Which of these cities have you traveled to?)
¿Con cuál/cuáles? Select instrument/company among options. ¿Con cuál de estos bolígrafos escribo? (With which of these pens shall I write?) ¿Con cuáles de tus amigos saldrás? (With which of your friends will you go out?)
¿De cuál/cuáles? Select origin/topic among options. ¿De cuál de estos vinos me hablas? (Which of these wines are you talking about?) ¿De cuáles de estas materias tienes examen? (Which of these subjects do you have an exam in?)
¿En cuál/cuáles? Select place/moment among options. ¿En cuál de estas habitaciones dormirás? (In which of these rooms will you sleep?) ¿Cuáles son tus días libres? (Which are your free days?)
¿Por cuál/cuáles? Select route/reason among options. ¿Por cuál de estos caminos es mejor ir? (Which of these paths is better to take?) ¿Por cuáles de estas razones decidiste estudiar aquí? (For which of these reasons did you decide to study here?)
¿Para cuál/cuáles? Select purpose/recipient among options. ¿Para cuál de estos proyectos necesitas ayuda? (For which of these projects do you need help?) ¿Para cuáles de tus hijos compraste regalos? (For which of your children did you buy gifts?)
Quién, quiénes.
This interrogative is used exclusively to ask about people. It has a singular form, quién, and a plural form, quiénes, and does not vary in grammatical gender. It can be the grammatical subject or function as a complement. It is used to ask about the identity of people and about the agent of actions.
¿Quién es tu profesor? (Who is your teacher?)
¿Quiénes fueron a la fiesta? (Who went to the party?)
When used without a preposition, it is normally the grammatical subject, and when combined with prepositions, it functions as a complement. Let’s look at examples.
¿A quién/quiénes? Ask about the recipient of an action. ¿A quién le diste mi número? (To whom did you give my number?) ¿A quiénes invitaste a la fiesta? (Whom did you invite to the party?)
¿Con quién/quiénes? Ask about company. ¿Con quién fuiste al cine? (With whom did you go to the movies?) ¿Con quiénes vas a estudiar? (With whom are you going to study?)
¿De quién/quiénes? Ask about possession or origin. ¿De quién es este libro? (Whose book is this?) ¿De quiénes son estas opiniones? (Whose opinions are these?)
¿Para quién/quiénes? Ask about beneficiary. ¿Para quién es el regalo? (Who is the gift for?) ¿Para quiénes son estos documentos? (Who are these documents for?)
¿Por quién/quiénes? Ask about cause related to people. ¿Por quién preguntas? (Who are you asking about?) ¿Por quiénes votaste en las elecciones? (Who did you vote for in the elections?)
We have reached the end of this article. I hope these lines have been useful to you. Here are some exercises to practice this topic, and if you have any questions, leave me a comment or write to me.
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