With accent marks and upside-down question marks, there is a lot to think about when it comes to using Spanish question words. This is why forming questions in Spanish is something our Coffee Break language learners regularly ask us about.
The Coffee Break Spanish Show is a podcast series of short but useful conversations, in which we talk about interesting Spanish language topics. In the latest episode, Concha and Mark are here to explain all about Spanish questions and, in particular, Spanish question words.
Continue reading to find out more, and why not listen to the podcast as you go? Plus, don’t miss our free worksheet at the end to practise what you learn!
Common Spanish question words
First of all, let’s start with a reminder of some of the most common Spanish question words. For each question word, we’ll include a short example. ¡Vamos a ello!
¿Cómo?
How?
¿Cómo te llamas?
What’s your name? (literally, “how do you call yourself?”)
¿Dónde?
Where?
¿Dónde está la biblioteca?
Where is the library?
¿Cuándo?
When?
¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
When is your birthday?
¿Qué?
What?
¿Qué estás haciendo ahora?
What are you doing just now?
Here are some bonus question words in Spanish that Concha and Mark didn’t mention in the podcast episode.
¿Quién? / ¿Quiénes?
Who?
¿Quién es tu madre?
Who is your mother?
¿Cuál? / ¿Cuáles?
Which?, What?
¿Cuál es tu color favorito?
What’s your favourite colour?
¿Cuánto/a?
How much?
¿Cuánta agua bebes al día?
How much water do you drink daily?
¿Cuántos/as?
How many?
¿Cuántas veces haces ejercicio a la semana?
How many times a week do you exercise?
Straight away, there are two really interesting things to note about all of these questions: each of the question words has an accent, and the sentences start with an upside-down question mark. Let’s talk about that question mark first.
Opening question marks in Spanish
When using Spanish question words to ask a question in Spanish, remember that you always need an opening question mark at the start of the question.
However, the start of the question doesn’t necessarily mean the start of the sentence. For example, an opening question mark can come after another form of punctuation or midway through a sentence:
Sé que ya me lo has dicho, pero ¿me puedes decir otra vez dónde está tu casa?
I know you have already told me, but can you tell me again where your house is?
However, we could also simply ask:
¿Me puedes decir dónde está tu casa?
Can you tell me where your house is?
Because these questions are structured slightly differently, they therefore require the opening question mark in different parts of the sentence.
Now, let’s turn our attention to the accents on Spanish question words.
Accents on Spanish question words
As you’ll have noticed in the earlier examples, all of the Spanish question words contain an accent. This is a straightforward rule: within a direct question, the question word must have an accent on it.
Spanish question words in indirect questions
However, Spanish question words can also be used in indirect questions.
This means that in situations in which we don’t have a direct question, but the question is implied within the statement, we still use a Spanish question word (and therefore an accent appears on the word). We can think of these as “indirect questions”.
Vamos a ver algunos ejemplos.
Me pregunto dónde está María.
I wonder where María is.
No sé cómo lo hace.
I don’t know how he / she does it.
No sé cuándo va a llegar Marta, dijo que iba a llegar a las doce.
I don’t know when Marta is going to arrive. She said she was going to arrive at 12 o’clock.
In all of these statements, although there are no question marks, there is still an element of questioning implied. To illustrate this, we can easily restructure the statements to form questions. For example:
Me pregunto: ¿dónde está María?
I wonder: where is María?
¿Cómo lo hace? No sé.
How does he / she do it? I don’t know.
Therefore, because the question is implied within the statement, we are still using a Spanish question word and therefore still an accent.
Similar Spanish words without accents
You may have come across the same words from our list of question words above, but without an accent.
If so, you’ll know that it can sometimes be tricky to know when to include the accent or not. For example, do you know the difference between que and qué, or como and cómo?
As we’ve just seen, Spanish question words can be used in either direct or indirect questions, and the question words always contain an accent.
However, there are words similar to our Spanish question words that don’t have an accent. In this case, the words are not question words, and they are instead serving a different function.
Let’s take a look at some examples:
Esta chaqueta es como la que tenía cuando era pequeña.
This jacket is like the one I had when I was little.
Estoy donde me dijiste.
I am where you told me (to be).
In these two examples, como and donde have a different function to cómo and dónde, and since there is no question implied, there is no accent on them.
Here’s another interesting example:
Veremos qué pasa.
We’ll see what happens.
In this example, qué is our question word (within an indirect question). We’re wondering what is going to happen and there is an element of doubt about what that might be.
However, this sentence would also be correct without the accent on the qué, but it would have a subtle difference in meaning.
Veremos que pasa.
We’ll see it happen. / We’ll see that it happens.
This time, we’re not wondering about what is actually going to happen, but rather simply stating that whatever that is, we’ll see it.
Test yourself on Spanish question words: accent or no accent?
Now that you’ve learned more about question words in Spanish, it’s time to put your knowledge to the test! We have a short quiz to help you put into practice what you’ve learned.
Read the following sentences and decide if the word in brackets should include an accent or not. The answers are at the end of this article. ¡Buena suerte!
- Ese es el profesor (que / qué) te comenté.
- Dime (cuando / cuándo) aterriza tu vuelo y voy a recogerte.
¡Eso es todo! We hope you now feel more comfortable knowing how to form questions in Spanish and how to tell the difference between que and qué, donde and dónde, and como and cómo!
If you found this article useful, why not listen to the full episode with Concha and Mark on The Coffee Break Spanish Show. For more episodes for Spanish learners, make sure to subscribe to our podcast feed and our channel on YouTube.
As well as this, you can sign up to receive regular, free email lessons to help you improve your Spanish. You will also receive language-learning tips and tricks from Mark, the founder of Coffee Break Languages. Sign up below, and we hope that you enjoy the first lesson that arrives in your inbox.
In the meantime, pay attention to these question words in Spanish the next time you’re reading. Or, when you’re listening aloud, try to visualise where the accents would be included. Good luck as you keep practising your Spanish and, as always, happy Coffee Breaking!
PS. Here are the answers to the test:
- Ese es el profesor que te comenté. (“That is the teacher that I mentioned to you.”)
- Dime cuándo aterriza tu vuelo y voy a recogerte. (“Tell me when your flight lands and I’ll go and pick you up.”)
