What would your Spanish be like if you didn’t know how to ask any questions? Could you have any type of conversation in Spanish? Probably not. Let’s fix that to make sure you can have a conversation in Spanish! With that in mind, I have gathered together basic and general Spanish questions that you will need to sound like a native Spanish speaker.
¿Estás listo? (Are you ready?) ¡Aquí vamos! (Here we go!)
But seriously, let’s start learning some new Spanish questions!
Spanish Question Words
First, we will start with the basic question words in order to get you warmed up. The basic question words are Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, How Many, and How Much. These are the basic and simple questions that you want to master first. Once you know these basic questions words, it is easy to include additional words and phrases in your questions.
After we cover the basic question words, we will move to common questions that you use in everyday conversation. This will include questions that have to deal with school, food, mealtime, and travel. Plus, we will discuss the other common questions that you may come across regarding things like the weather or time of day.
When you read through the questions in each section, you will also notice that I have sprinkled in some responses to the questions being asked so that you can see what some of the common responses might be.
Without further ado, let’s start first with the basic question words of Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, How Many, and How Much.
Who? – ¿Quién?
We start with our first basic question word of Who. The English word of Who translates to Quién in Spanish. There are a couple of different ways that Quién is used when asking a question. The different ways you will see Quién used are Quién, Quiénes, and De quién.
Quién and Quiénes are similar, but one is for a singular subject and the other for the plural subject. When you talk about one person, you should use Quién. When you are talking about more than one person in the plural sense, you should use Quiénes. And finally, when you want to discuss “whose”, you would say De quién.
Below are some examples of Quién, Quiénes, and De quién used in a question.
- ¿Quién eres tú? – Who are you?
- ¿Quién es? – Who is it?
- ¿Quiénes son ellos? – Who are they?
- ¿De quién son estos vasos? – Whose cups are these?
- ¿De quién es esta casa? – Whose house is this?
- ¿De quién es este lápiz? – Whose pencil is this?
- ¿De quiénes hablas? – Who are you talking about?
What? / Which? – ¿Qué? / ¿Cuál?
Qué and Cuál are a little trickier. They can be difficult to understand because they are not straight-forward when translating to English. Qué is often used in a definition, explanation, and before a noun in a question. Cuál is used when you choose among things. Plus, Cuál is also closer to “which” in most instances.
Take a look at the examples below to get a sense for when we use Qué and Cuál.
- ¿Qué quiere él? – What does he want?
- ¿Qué haces esta noche? – What are you doing tonight?
- ¿Qué tiempo hace? – What is the weather like?
- ¿Qué es esto? – What is this?
- ¿Cuál quieres tú? – Which one do you want?
- ¿Cuál es mío? – Which is mine?
- ¿Cuál es tu problema? – What is your problem?
- ¿Cuál es tu nombre? – What is your name?
- Me llamo Chris. – My name is Chris.
- ¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? – What is your telephone number?
When? – ¿Cuándo?
Here is another easily understandable basic question word for us in Spanish. Cuándo means When in Spanish. Here are some examples.
- ¿Cuándo es la fiesta? – When is the party?
- ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? – When is your birthday?
- ¿Cuándo es la pelicula? – When is the movie?
Where? – ¿Dónde?
Our next basic question word is Dónde. Dónde is much less complicated for us to understand. There are three different types of questions where Dónde is used. Dónde means Where. Adónde means To Where or Where To, and De dónde means From Where. These are easier to incorporate and use. Check out the examples below.
- ¿Dónde está el baño? – Where is the bathroom?
- ¿Dónde está el casa? – Where is the house?
- ¿Dónde vives? – Where do you live?
- ¿Dónde trabajas? – Where do you work?
- ¿Adónde vas? – Where are you going?
- ¿De dónde eres? – Where are you from?
Why? – ¿Por qué?
When you want to ask Why in Spanish, you simply say por qué. This is quick and simple. However, when you use por qué, be sure that there is a space between por and qué and an accent over the e. If you instead write the word as porque, that will translate to because in English. So, don’t forget these little tidbits.
Also, you will notice that often times when you ask Why in Spanish, you will receive a Because response in Spanish. That means they will first ask Por qué (Why) in Spanish and then the response will start with Porque (Because). This is quite common, so don’t be surprised when you see it.
Below are some examples of questions using Por qué followed by responses of Porque.
- ¿Por qué están ellos aquí? – Why are they here?
- Porque te extrañan. – Because they miss you.
- ¿Por qué no? – Why not?
- Porque me duele la cabeza. – Because my head hurts.
How? – ¿Cómo?
When you want to ask How, use the Spanish word of Cómo. Cómo will typically mean How, but there are other instances where Cómo translates to the Spanish word of What.
Take a look at a couple of the examples below to see the ways that Cómo is used for How and What.
- ¿Cómo estás? – How are you?
- ¿Cómo te llamas? – What is your name?
- Me llamo Chris. – My name is Chris.
How Much? – ¿Cuánto?
Cuánto and Cuánta are used to ask How Much in English. Cuánto and Cuánta are the singular male and female subjects, respectively. These are very similar to our next basic question word of How Many, which uses Cuántos and Cuántas.
For now, just concentrate on How Much by taking a look at the examples below that use only the singular subjects of Cuánto and Cuánta.
- ¿Cuánto es? – How much is it?
- ¿Cuánto cuesta el jugo de naranja? – How much is the orange juice?
- ¿Cuánta cantidad de leche debo colocar en la torta? – How much quantity of milk should I put in the cake?
How Many? – ¿Cuántos? / ¿Cuántas?
And here is where we take a look at the plural subjects for the basic question of How Many. Cuántos and Cuántas are what we use to ask How Many. Cuántos and Cuántas are the plural male and female subjects, respectively.
Now we will look at how we use How Many in Spanish with some of the examples below using the plural subjects of Cuántos and Cuántas.
- ¿Cuántos años tienes? – How old are you?
- Tengo treinta y cinco años. – I am thirty-five years old.
- ¿Cuántos hay? – How many are there?
- ¿Cuántas chicas? – How many girls?
- Tres chicas. – Three girls.
How To Ask For A Translation or Say “I Have a Question” in Spanish
Sometimes, you just need to ask someone a question. Or, better yet, you need to figure out what that thing or object is called. When Spanish is not your first language, you need to figure out a couple of these little hacks. Below are some questions or phrases you can use to help you when talking with native Spanish speakers.
- ¿Cómo se dice ____? – How do you say ______? (You can point at an object or say the word in English so that the person you are asking will translate for you.)
- Tengo una pregunta. – I have a question.
- Tengo una pregunta para ti. – I have a question for you.
- Tengo una pregunta que hacerte. – I have a question to ask you.
Basic Spanish Questions
I love the basics. Having the basics in your back pocket helps you build a foundation for your Spanish to grow upon. In this section, we wanted to give you some basic questions for situations you may commonly find yourself in, such as at school, traveling, or at mealtime. Plus, there are other basic conversation questions you will want to know when you are out on the town.
Spanish Questions About School
If you have kids, knowing questions about school can be very helpful. Or, if you are in school, then these questions could also be common. A lot of the questions about school typically are about the events of the day and how everything went while you or your kids were at school.
Below are some examples of questions about school.
- ¿Cómo estuvo la escuela hoy? – How was school today?
- ¿Qué aprendiste? – What did you learn?
- ¿Cómo están tus amigos en la escuela? – How are your friends at school?
- ¿Te gustan tus profesores? – Do you like your teachers?
- ¿Quién es tu maestro favorito? – Who is your favorite teacher?
- ¿Cómo estuvo tu examen? – How was your test?
- ¿Quieres leer hoy? – Do you want to read today?
- ¿Hiciste nuevos amigos? – Did you make any new friends?
- ¿Dibujaste algo hoy? – Did you draw anything today?
- ¿Qué comiste en el almuerzo? – What did you eat for lunch?
- ¿Comiste un bocadillo hoy? – Did you eat a snack today?
Spanish Questions About Food and Mealtime
Everyone eats and most people eat several times a day (Obviously!). Naturally, conversations about food and mealtime will take place when you are eating or preparing to eat, which is why we included this section.
Below are some common questions and examples that you can use during your next meal.
- ¿Es hora de comer? – Is it time to eat?
- ¿Tienes hambre? – Are you hungry?
- ¿Qué debemos hacer para el desayuno? – What should we eat for breakfast?
- ¿Qué debemos hacer para el almuerzo? – What should we eat for lunch?
- ¿Qué debemos hacer para la cena? – What should we eat for dinner?
- ¿Quieres leche? – Do you want milk?
- ¿Quieres más? – Do you want more?
- ¿Quieres agua? – Do you want water?
- ¿Quieres pan? – Do you want bread?
- ¿Cuál es tu comida favorita? – What is your favorite food?
- ¿Tu comes vegetales? – Do you eat vegetables?
- ¿Tu comes pollo? – Do you eat chicken?
- ¿Cuál es tu restaurante favorito? – What is your favorite restaurant?
- ¿Podemos comer pizza esta noche? – Can we eat pizza tonight?
Spanish Questions About Travel
One fun thing you want to do when learning Spanish is to travel to a Spanish speaking country. Before or during your travels, you can practice a couple of Spanish questions you might hear or encounter when going through customs or when talking with local Spanish speakers.
Below are some questions and responses you may want to use when you are traveling.
- ¿A qué hora es nuestro vuelo hoy? – What time is our flight today?
- Una de la tarde. – One in the afternoon.
- ¿Necesitamos nuestros pasaportes? – Do we need our passports?
- Sí, por supuesto que necesitas tu pasaporte. – Yes, of course you need your passport.
- ¿Estamos tomando el tren al aeropuerto? – Are we taking the train to the airport?
- ¿Está su maleta empacada? – Is your bag packed?
- ¿Cuál es nuestro número de puerta? – What is our gate number?
- ¿Qué quieres ver en Madrid? – What do you want to see in Madrid.
- ¿Donde esta nuestro hotel? – Where is our hotel?
- ¿Cuántos días es tu viaje? – How many days is your trip?
- ¿Necesito una chaqueta? – Do I need a jacket?
- ¿Vamos a nadar en el viaje? – Are we going to swim on the trip?
- ¿Rentaste un auto? – Did you rent a car?
- ¿Podemos visitar el museo? – Can we visit the museum?
General Spanish Conversation Questions
And we also have some general Spanish conversation questions that you can browse to get an idea of the common questions you may encounter. You may want to ask people about their family, their favorite sport, or if there is a park nearby. Obviously, the number of questions you can ask is endless, but you want to be prepared as best as possible.
Take a look at some of the questions and responses below.
- ¿Te gusta la comida española? – Do you like Spanish food?
- ¿Qué has dicho? – What did you say?
- ¿Tienes hermanos y hermanas? – Do you have brothers and sisters?
- ¿Qué te gusta hacer? – What do you like to do?
- ¿Qué deportes te gustan? – What sports do you like?
- ¿Te gusta bailar? – Do you like to dance?
- ¿Qué música prefieres? – What music do you prefer?
- ¿Tienes una mascota? – Do you have a pet?
- ¿Hablas inglés? – Do you speak English?
- Si hablo Inglés. – Yes, I speak English.
- ¿Tienes calor? – Are you warm?
- ¿Estamos contentos? – Are we happy?
- ¿Y usted? – And you?
- ¿Qué hora es? – What time is it?
- Es la una de la tarde. – It’s one in the afternoon.
- ¿Hay un parque cerca? – Is there a park nearby?
- Tú comprendes? – Do you understand?
- ¿Tienes un crayon? – Do you have a crayon?
- ¿Te ayudo? – Can I help you?
The Spanish Question Mark – Why Is It Upside Down?
I always wanted to know why the Spanish question mark is upside down. None of the other languages that I read and discovered had anything like it. The Spanish question mark was basically a one-of-a-kind thing in languages.
What I was able to discover is that Spanish is the main language that uses an upside-down question mark. There are other small languages that use this symbol, but they are closely related to Spanish, such as Galician and Catalan.
After a while, the Spanish question mark started to bother me, so I did some research to better understand it. Here is a link to the full article I wrote about the Spanish Question Mark and the results of why it is upside down and how you can use the symbol are shocking.
Let’s Start Having Conversations!
The best way to start learning Spanish is by having conversations with others. I personally like to have conversations with native Spanish speakers so that I can try to talk and act like a local Spanish speaker. It isn’t always easy, but it can be a lot of fun! Plus, the more you practice, the easier it gets to speak and understand Spanish!
So get out there and start speaking Spanish! Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The more mistakes you make shows that you are trying and have plenty of things to learn and correct. Being afraid to speak because you do not want to make a mistake is not an option! Be bold! Be brave!
Last, if you get to the point where you have started to master the questions and responses I discussed above, or you want to move on to further Spanish words and phrases, then I have you covered! Check out the blog post I have written about your first 250 Spanish Words and Phrases. You will be surprised how easy they are to learn and include in your Spanish vocabulary!
