Interrogative Pronouns (Question Words)

While interrogative pronouns is a scary grammatical term, it simply means question words. Whether or not you realize it, a question word is actually a pronoun because it is used in place of the noun that would be the answer to the question.

Notice that ALL question words have accent marks.

Learn the following question words:

Most of the question words have exact equivalents in Spanish and English. But there are a few issues you must understand to use the correct question word in context. There are three Spanish interrogative pronouns that can be translated to the English word what: qué, cuál, and cómo. Unfortunately they are not just interchangeable, but there are some simple rules to govern their usage:

• What rule 1: Always use qué to mean what directly in front of any noun.

  ¿ Qué libro lee usted?

  What book do you read?

  ¿ Qué comida comen ellos?

  What food do they eat?

• What rule 2: Qué is used in front of any form of the verb ser when asking for a definition or an explanation. That is, when you're really asking “What does it mean?” or “What is it?”

  ¿ Qué es la paella?

  What is paella?

• What rule 3: Cuál is used to mean what in front of any form of the verb ser when you're really asking for a choice or specific answer. The sample sentences that follow use the es form, which means is, of the verb ser. Consider the difference in these two answers to a question:

  Answer A: My address is the house number, the street name, city, state and zip code where I live.

  Answer B: My address is 555 Kingston Lane, Carrollton, Ohio, 44615.

  Answer A is obviously the response to a question asking for a definition or explanation of the word “address.” This is the type of answer that is elicited from the question:

  ¿ Qué es dirección?

  What is “your address?” (give me an explanation or definition of address)

  Answer B is the type of response you would most likely give if you heard the question, “what is your address?” However, be sure to notice that the question word that must be used in front of the verb “to be” in Spanish is the word “ cuál.”

  ¿ Cuál es tu dirección?

  What is your address? (give me a specific place)

• What rule 4: Cómo is often used as a response when one fails to hear a comment and would like it repeated. In English when someone says something you don't hear, you say, “what?” If this happens in Spanish, the one word response, “¿ Cómo?” is appropriate. That does not, however, mean that cómo can be used to mean “what?” in any other situation.

The importance of knowing how to ask a question is obvious, but a large number of people tend to mix up the question words or simply can't remember them. Try to use mnemonic (memory) tricks to help you remember the question words. The following examples are silly and will not elicit the exact question word, but they will jar your memory. You should try to think of your own mnemonic devise for the rest of the question words.

• How did he get into a coma?

• Cómo = how

• Who dates Barbie? Ken!

• Quién = who

• What do they sell at K -mart?

• Qué = what

• When can I buy a condo?

• Cuándo = when

Most questions that have a question word are created exactly like a yes or no question with the question word in front. Take the question “does he speak Italian?” ¿ Habla él italiano? There are several question words that could simply be placed in front of the question to elicit more information than yes or no. See the following sample sentences for examples on how different question words can elicit different answers:

• ¿ Cómo habla él italiano?

• How does he speak Italian?

• ¿ Dónde habla él italiano?

• Where does he speak Italian?

• ¿ Cuándo habla él italiano?

• When does he speak Italian?

• ¿ Por qué habla él italiano?

• Why does he speak Italian?

All of the sample questions can be created simply by switching the subject and the verb to create a yes or no question and then simply placing the specific question word in front.

Cite this article