¿Cuándo? is the Spanish question word for when. Like all interrogatives, it carries a written accent and is invariable — no gender, no number.
It's one of the simplest question words in the language: there are no gender or number changes to worry about, and it pairs naturally with every Spanish tense.
The basic use
Cuándo asks about the time at which something happens. The verb can be in any tense — present, past, or future — and word order is flexible. You'll often hear it at the very start of the question, but speakers also embed it inside longer sentences.
¿Cuándo llegas?
When are you arriving?
¿Cuándo empezó la película?
When did the movie start?
¿Cuándo vas a regresar?
When are you going to come back?
Just like other Spanish questions, there is no auxiliary verb — no do or did. The main verb does all the work.
Cuándo across tenses
Cuándo pairs naturally with every tense in Spanish. The tense you choose reflects whether you are asking about the past, the present, or the future — cuándo itself never changes.
¿Cuándo comes normalmente?
When do you usually eat?
¿Cuándo llegarás?
When will you arrive?
There is no restriction on tense — Spanish lets the verb carry the time reference and cuándo simply asks when.
Desde cuándo — "since when?"
To ask about the starting point of an action that is still going on, use ¿desde cuándo? This often pairs with the Spanish present tense, where English would use have been + -ing.
¿Desde cuándo vives aquí?
How long have you lived here?
¿Desde cuándo conoces a Marta?
How long have you known Marta?
Literally these are since when do you live here? and since when do you know Marta?. Notice the present tense in Spanish — this is very different from English, which requires the present perfect (have lived, have known).
Hasta cuándo — "until when?"
To ask about the endpoint of an action, use ¿hasta cuándo?.
¿Hasta cuándo te quedas?
How long are you staying? / Until when are you staying?
¿Hasta cuándo estarán abiertos?
Until when will they be open?
You can also use ¿hasta cuándo? rhetorically to express impatience, as in ¿Hasta cuándo? — How much longer? or When will this end?.
Para cuándo — "by when?"
Use ¿para cuándo? to ask about a deadline — the time by which something should be done.
¿Para cuándo necesitas la tarea?
By when do you need the homework?
This form is less common in everyday speech but perfectly standard and useful in professional or academic contexts.
Indirect questions with cuándo
Inside statements that report a question, cuándo keeps its accent.
No sé cuándo regresa.
I don't know when he's coming back.
Pregúntale cuándo sale el próximo tren.
Ask him when the next train leaves.
Compare this to Regresa cuando pueda (He comes back when he can), where cuando is a plain conjunction and has no accent.
Quick Reference of Cuándo Combinations
| Form | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ¿Cuándo? | when? | ¿Cuándo llegas? |
| ¿Desde cuándo? | since when? / how long? | ¿Desde cuándo vives aquí? |
| ¿Hasta cuándo? | until when? | ¿Hasta cuándo te quedas? |
| ¿Para cuándo? | by when? / for when? | ¿Para cuándo lo necesitas? |
More Examples
¿Cuándo nos volvemos a ver?
When are we going to see each other again?
¿Cuándo terminas el trabajo?
When do you finish work?
Related question words
Related Topics
- Dónde (Where)A1 — Ask about location with ¿dónde?, direction with ¿adónde?, and origin with ¿de dónde? in Latin American Spanish.
- Cómo (How)A1 — Use ¿cómo? to ask about manner, state, and to learn common fixed expressions like ¿cómo te llamas? and ¿cómo se dice?