The 7 Spanish Question Words & How to Use Them

Want to dive deeper into learning Spanish? Don’t be afraid to ask!

Questions are critical to understanding the world around us. Question words in Spanish are used to ask who, what, where, and when regarding a particular subject. Once you learn all the question words in Spanish, you’ll be able to discover more about the language and the people you’re conversing with.

The basic question words in Spanish are easy to use because people love being asked questions! It shows you’re interested in their opinions and experiences while demonstrating your commitment to learning the language. After reading this article, you’ll feel more comfortable meeting new people and making friends in Spanish.

The 7 Spanish Question Words

You only need to know seven words to start asking questions in Spanish. Whether your aim is to become fluent someday, or just know enough Spanish to travel in Spain or South America, you’ll need to know how to ask question words in Spanish. Imagine the knowledge that can be unlocked just by asking the right question!

What are questions words? Today, we’re going to look at some of the most important question words in Spanish. Once you memorize this vocabulary, you’ll be able to strike up a conversation whenever the opportunity arises!

1. ¿Cómo?

Cómo literally translates to “how,” but it can also mean “what” when used in isolation. You should also know that como – without the accent over the O – means “like” or “I eat.”

This is a lot of different meanings, so be sure to pay attention to the context of the conversation for clues to the word’s definition. Here are some common questions you might ask using cómo:

• ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?)
  
• ¿Cómo te sientes? (How are you feeling?)
  
• ¿Cómo te fue? (How did it go?)
  
• ¿Cómo lo hiciste? (How did you do that?)

If you look closely at the sentence structure of these questions, you’ll see that in Spanish, you don’t need to add a word for “do.” For example, “How do you make that?” would literally be translated into Spanish as: ¿Cómo lo haces? (How you make that?).

It sounds funny when translated literally, doesn’t it? This is one example of a basic language translation fact: we translate ideas, not words.

2. ¿Quién?

Quién means “who” in English. When using it in writing, remember to apply the accent mark over the E. A few common questions using the word quién are:

• ¿Quién es? (Who is it?) Note: Use when answering a phone or door.
• ¿Quién sabe? (Who knows?)
• ¿Quién es? (Who is that?)
• ¿Quiénes son? (Who are they?)
• ¿Con quién vas? (Who are you going with?)

As you can see in the last example, sentences in Spanish often begin with the word con, meaning “with.” This is a key difference from English, where sentences and questions rarely start with the word “with.” For example, you wouldn’t typically say, “With whom are you going?”

Another thing you’ll notice is that when quién is used plurally, referring to more than one person, it becomes quiénes.

3. ¿Qué?

Qué means “what.” Like with quién, remember to apply an accent mark over the E. This is important because without the accent over the E, que means “that.” Here are some questions you’ll use regularly with the word qué:

• ¿Qué es? (What is it?) 
• ¿Qué significa? (What does that mean?)
• ¿Qué hiciste? (What did you do?)
• ¿Qué? (What?)

Be aware that when used in isolation, “¿Cómo?” means the same thing as “¿Qué?”  You’ll hear Spanish speakers using both of these phrases.

4. ¿Dónde?

Dónde means “where.” Just like the other Spanish question words, remember to apply the necessary accent mark. Common questions with dónde include: