Teaching guidelines +/- 15 minutes

Learn how to form questions with essential Spanish interrogative words such as Dónde, Cuál, Qué, and Por qué. Understand their usage, accentuation, and punctuation rules. This lesson provides practical examples and highlights key differences between Spanish and English question forms to help beginner learners master asking questions effectively.
  1. “Cuál” has a plural form, “cuáles”.
  2. The question word is placed at the beginning of the sentence.
  3. Question marks are used at the beginning (¿) and at the end (?)
  4. Interrogative words carry an accent mark.
Palabra interrogativa (Interrogative word)Ejemplo (Example)
Dónde

¿Dónde está el parque? (Where is the park?)

¿Dónde vives? (Where do you live?)

Cuál

¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? (What is your phone number?)

¿Cuáles son tus libros favoritos? (¿Which are your favourite books?)

Qué

¿Qué quieres cenar? (¿What do you want for dinner?)

¿Qué hora es? (What time is it?)

Por qué 

¿Por qué te dedicas a la ingeniería? (Why do you dedicate yourself to engineering?)

¿Por qué estudias medicina? (Why do you study medicine?)

Exercise 1: Palabras interrogativas: "Dónde?", "Cuál?", "Qué?", "Por qué?"

Instruction: Fill in the correct word.

Show translation Show answers

Cuáles, Dónde, Qué, Por qué, Cuál

1.
¿... está tu oficina?
(Where is your office?)
2.
¿... aprendes español?
(Why are you learning Spanish?)
3.
¿... es tu trabajo?
(What is your job?)
4.
¿... trabajas como abogado?
(Why do you work as a lawyer?)
5.
¿... son tus planes para el fin de semana?
(What are your plans for the weekend?)
6.
¿... libro lees?
(Which book are you reading?)
7.
¿... es tu trabajo ideal?
(What is your ideal job?)
8.
¿... está el camarero ?
(Where is the waiter?)

Exercise 2: Multiple Choice

Instruction: Choose the correct solution

1. ¿___ trabajas actualmente?

(___ do you currently work?)

2. ¿___ es tu profesión?

(___ is your profession?)

3. ¿___ estudias medicina?

(___ do you study medicine?)

4. ¿___ asignaturas tienes este semestre?

(___ subjects do you have this semester?)

5. ¿___ son tus libros favoritos sobre ingeniería?

(___ are your favorite books on engineering?)

6. ¿___ está la universidad más cercana?

(___ is the nearest university?)

Interrogative Words in Spanish: An Introduction

This lesson covers the essential interrogative words in Spanish—Dónde (Where), Cuál (Which), Qué (What), and Por qué (Why). These words are crucial for forming questions and engaging in everyday conversations. You'll learn how to use each word correctly at the beginning of questions, along with the punctuation marks that frame them: the inverted question mark (¿) at the start and the regular question mark (?) at the end.

Key Interrogative Words and Usage

  • Dónde: Used to ask about locations, for example, "¿Dónde está el parque?" or "¿Dónde vives?"
  • Cuál: Used to inquire about a choice or specific item, existing also in plural form as Cuáles, for example, "¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono?" and "¿Cuáles son tus libros favoritos?"
  • Qué: Asks for definitions, information, or explanations, like "¿Qué quieres cenar?" or "¿Qué hora es?"
  • Por qué: Seeks reasons or causes, such as in "¿Por qué te dedicas a la ingeniería?" or "¿Por qué estudias medicina?"

Important Highlights

Note that Spanish interrogative words always carry an accent mark (tilde), which distinguishes them from similar non-question words. The structure universally places these words at the beginning of a question, and Spanish requires both starting and ending question marks.

Differences between English and Spanish Interrogatives

Unlike English, Spanish uses an inverted question mark at the beginning of a sentence to signal a question. Also, some interrogative pronouns like Cuál vary in number (Cuál for singular, Cuáles for plural), which doesn’t typically occur in English equivalents. For example, in English, "Which books are yours?" uses “which” for both singular and plural cases, while in Spanish you'd say "¿Cuál es tu libro?" for singular and "¿Cuáles son tus libros?" for plural.

Useful phrases include:
¿Dónde está...? (Where is...?)
¿Cuál es...? (Which is...?)
¿Qué quieres...? (What do you want...?)
¿Por qué estudias...? (Why do you study...?)

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