Asking things

Lesson Overview: Asking Things in Spanish

This lesson introduces fundamental Spanish question words and common phrases to ask about everyday topics. It suits beginner-level (A1) learners who want to confidently form questions to gather specific information, practice verb conjugations in context, and engage in simple dialogs related to daily life.

Key Interrogative Words (Palabras Interrogativas)

Question words are essential to form inquiries in Spanish. This lesson focuses on words like ¿Qué? (What?), ¿Quién? (Who?), ¿Cuál? (Which?), ¿Dónde? (Where?), ¿Cuándo? (When?), ¿Cómo? (How?), ¿Por qué? (Why?), and ¿Cuánto? (How much?/How many?).

Grouping Question Types

These can be classified into two main groups:

• Questions about specific details: ¿Quién?, ¿Qué?, ¿Cuál?, ¿Cuándo?, ¿Dónde?
• Questions about amount, manner, or cause: ¿Cuánto?, ¿Cómo?, ¿Por qué?

Example Questions

• ¿Qué quieres comer esta noche? (What do you want to eat tonight?)
• ¿Quién prepara la comida en tu casa? (Who prepares the food at your house?)
• ¿Dónde compras los ingredientes más frescos? (Where do you buy the freshest ingredients?)
• ¿Cuándo empiezas a cocinar el desayuno? (When do you start cooking breakfast?)
• ¿Cómo se hace esta receta tradicional? (How is this traditional recipe made?)
• ¿Por qué prefieres usar aceite de oliva para cocinar? (Why do you prefer using olive oil for cooking?)

Practical Dialogues to Practice Asking Questions

At the Office: Asking about the Boss

Practice questions like:
¿Quién es el jefe de esta oficina?
and answers such as:
El jefe es el señor Martínez.

At the Cafeteria: Inquiring About the Menu

Examples include:
¿Qué bebidas tienen hoy?
Tenemos café, té y zumo de naranja.

In the Store: Seeking Help to Find Products

Try questions like:
¿Dónde están las frutas?
and responses:
Las frutas están al fondo a la derecha.

Verb Practice

The lesson also offers verb conjugation practice with important verbs such as preguntar (to ask), pedir (to request), responder (to answer), and abrir (to open), focusing on their present tense forms to help build functional sentence structures for asking and responding.

Short Story for Contextual Learning

A short story about asking questions in a neighborhood store provides a contextual way to see these verbs and question words in use. It includes sentences like:
Hoy pregunto a la dependienta a qué hora abre la tienda.
This helps link vocabulary, grammar, and real-life usage.

Language Notes: English vs Spanish Question Formation

Unlike English, Spanish always uses inverted question marks ¿ at the start of a question. The question words in Spanish often come first, similar to English, but verb placement can be more flexible. Spanish questions typically maintain the same word order as statements, distinguished by intonation and punctuation.

Useful phrases:

• ¿Qué? – What?
• ¿Quién? – Who?
• ¿Dónde? – Where?
• ¿Cuándo? – When?
• ¿Cómo? – How?
• ¿Por qué? – Why?
• ¿Cuánto? – How much?/How many?