In this page we consider different strategies to ask questions and elicit information in Spanish.
Question #1 - Gloss.?
Question #2 - Gloss.?
Question #3 - Gloss.?
Question #4 - Gloss.?
Question #5 - Gloss.?
Question #6 - Gloss.?
Question #7 - Gloss.?
Question #8 - Gloss.?
Question #9 - Gloss.?
Question #10 - Gloss.?
Proper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Proper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Proper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Proper use of 'qué tal' interrogative.
Qué tal can be used instead of cómo to translate how, especially when refering to states or conditions.
Improper use of 'possession construct' interrogative.
Improper use of 'possession construct' interrogative.
Proper use of 'possession construct' interrogative.
Spanish has no strict equivalent to English whose. A restructuring of the sentence using de quién is usual:
Whose car is red? => ¿De quién es el coche rojo?
Improper use of 'possession construct' interrogative.
Proper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
English allows leaving in place a (dangling? objectionable?) preposition while Spanish always requires bringing the preposition to the beginning, in front of the interrogative:
Where does she come from? vs ¿De dónde viene ella?
Improper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
Improper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
Improper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
Proper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Proper use of 'qué tal' interrogative.
Qué tal can be used instead of cómo to translate how, especially when refering to states or conditions.
Improper use of 'qué tal' interrogative.
Improper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
Improper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
Proper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
English allows leaving in place a (dangling? objectionable?) preposition while Spanish always requires bringing the preposition to the beginning, in front of the interrogative:
Where does she come from? vs ¿De dónde viene ella?
Improper seeking of information from a 'prepositional predicate'.
Improper translation for an intensive 'how'.
Proper translation for an intensive 'how'.
How next to an adjective or adverb expresses degree: how tall?; how steady?; how beautifull? and could be translated to Spanish cuan, except that it is not used much nowadays. A possible option is the use of the expression cuanto de.
Proper translation for an intensive 'how'.
How next to an adjective or adverb expresses degree: how tall?; how steady?; how beautifull? and could be translated to Spanish cuan, except that it is not used much nowadays. A possible option is the use of the expression cuanto de.
Improper translation for an intensive 'how'.
Improper translation for an intensive 'how'.
Improper translation for an intensive 'how'.
Improper translation for an intensive 'how'.
Proper translation for an intensive 'how'.
How next to an adjective or adverb expresses degree: how tall?; how steady?; how beautifull? and could be translated to Spanish cuan, except that it is not used much nowadays. A possible option is the use of the expression cuanto de.
Proper translation for an intensive 'how'.
How next to an adjective or adverb expresses degree: how tall?; how steady?; how beautifull? and could be translated to Spanish cuan, except that it is not used much nowadays. A possible option is the use of the expression cuanto de.
Improper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
Improper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
Proper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
When questioning about the verbal action itself, care has to be taken in distinguishing whether the verb does or does not express active involvement of the subject. In the first case the question requires the use of hacer (to do); in the second case the use of reflexive pasar (to happen).
Improper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
Improper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
Improper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
Improper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
Proper choice of proper questioning verb for 'verb phrase' questioning.
When questioning about the verbal action itself, care has to be taken in distinguishing whether the verb does or does not express active involvement of the subject. In the first case the question requires the use of hacer (to do); in the second case the use of reflexive pasar (to happen).
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Proper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Proper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Proper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
Improper use of 'canonical translations' for interrogatives.
In this page we consider different strategies to ask questions and elicit information in Spanish.
The items covered are:
There is a fairly good correspondence between the basic Spanish and English interrogatives, given by the canonical translations:
what => qué; who => quién; which => cuál; how => cómo; when => cuándo; how much => cuánto; where => dónde.
For interrogative sentences, English brings only the verb auxiliary before the Subject whereas Spanish antecedes both:
What has Peter said? vs ¿Qué ha dicho Pedro?
Spanish has no strict equivalent to English whose. A restructuring of the sentence using de quién is usual:
Whose car is red? => ¿De quién es el coche rojo?
English allows leaving in place a (dangling? objectionable?) preposition while Spanish always requires bringing the preposition to the beginning, in front of the interrogative:
Where does she come from? vs ¿De dónde viene ella?
How next to an adjective or adverb expresses degree: how tall?; how steady?; how beautifull? and could be translated to Spanish cuan, except that it is not used much nowadays. A possible option is the use of the expression cuanto de.
Qué tal can be used instead of cómo to translate how, especially when refering to states or conditions.
When questioning about the verbal action itself, care has to be taken in distinguishing whether the verb does or does not express active involvement of the subject. In the first case the question requires the use of hacer (to do); in the second case the use of reflexive pasar (to happen).
Copyright 1996 Samuel Schiminovich.
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