To achieve correct Spanish grammar is one of the main goals and challenges for many students. An example of this is to differentiate and master the use of the two interrogatives ‘qué’ and ‘cuál’.
Let’s see where the difficulty lies:
Different questions, which mean the same thing and can have the same answer. Confusing.
In our classes, these are some examples of the most common mistakes we see our students make in their learning process:
These three examples are real cases in which the interrogative used is incorrect. The correct grammatical structure is:
In this article we are going to analyze the correct Spanish grammar of these two interrogatives that can be a bit tricky and you will see how at the end of your reading, you will be able to distinguish much better between the use of ‘qué’ and ‘cuál’.
Let’s begin!
Pay attention. We are going to study the use of ‘qué’ not ‘que’. The little tilde or graphic accent tells us that ‘qué’ is an interrogative. Therefore, the grammatical structures that we are going to see are questions and are used to obtain information.
1. Qué + ser
It is used to identify something:
It is used to ask for a definition:
2. Qué + verbo
It is used to choose between two or more different things:
It is used in open questions:
3. Qué + nombre o sustantivo
It is used to ask about what you like or about your preferences:
Once we have seen the correct Spanish grammar for the interrogative ‘qué’ we are going to see, in a similar way, the correct Spanish grammar for the interrogative ‘cuál’ in the singular and in the plural, ‘cuáles’.
4. Cuál + de
It is used to ask for information about people, animals or things:
5. Cuál + verb
It is used to choose between two identical things that differ in shape, color, size, price, etc:
6. Cuál/es + ser
It is used to ask about your preferences:
We know that mastering correct Spanish grammar is one of the biggest challenges when learning Spanish. We have verb tenses, prepositions, irregular verbs… and endless complex topics within Spanish grammar. But it is essential to practice, understand and “embrace” this part of the language because it is the framework or skeleton on which everything else is built. Visit our Membership Programme where you will find fantastic courses in the ‘Gramática’ category ordered by language levels (A1, A2, B1…). Each course lasts about 30 minutes and explains a specific aspect so that when you have finished it, you will master it perfectly. All our courses have a 10 or 12-minute video with the Your Spanish Hub teachers explaining the theory. They also have 4 or 5 self-correcting activities that you can do after watching the video to practice your grammar.
Let nothing stop you on your adventure with Spanish!
