The Spanish interrogative ¿quién? corresponds to English "who?", but Spanish does something English does not: it distinguishes singular from plural. ¿Quién? asks about one person; ¿quiénes? asks about more than one. There is no equivalent of "whom" in modern Spanish — the same form is used for subjects and objects — but Spanish does require the personal a when the person asked about is the direct object of the verb, producing the form ¿a quién?. This page lays out the full system: singular vs. plural, the four core uses (subject, direct object, indirect object, object of preposition), the obligatory written accent, and the most common English-transfer errors.
Singular vs. plural
¿Quién? is used when you expect (or believe) the answer is one person; ¿quiénes? is used when you expect more than one. The plural exists because Spanish needs to agree with verbs in number.
¿Quién ha llamado?
Who called? (expecting one caller)
¿Quiénes han llamado?
Who called? (expecting more than one)
English collapses both into "who," so the choice is invisible. In Spanish, if you can already see two coats on the rack and you want to know whose they are, you must use quiénes:
¿De quiénes son estos abrigos?
Whose coats are these? (more than one owner expected)
¿De quién es este abrigo?
Whose coat is this? (one owner)
If you are genuinely unsure whether one or several people are involved, default to the singular quién — Spanish allows it as the unmarked form.
The four core uses
1. Subject of the verb
Quién(es) as subject takes a verb that agrees in number with the pronoun.
¿Quién va a hacer la cena esta noche?
Who is going to make dinner tonight?
¿Quiénes son los nuevos vecinos del quinto?
Who are the new neighbors on the fifth floor?
¿Quién tiene las llaves del coche?
Who has the car keys?
Notice that the verb agrees with quién / quiénes directly, not with what the answer might be. ¿Quién es? (Who is it?) takes singular es even if the answer turns out to be several people; ¿quiénes son? commits you to a plural answer.
2. Direct object — with the personal a
When the person is the direct object of the verb, Spanish requires the personal a before quién. This is the only major Spanish interrogative that needs a preposition for object marking, because quién refers to humans, and human direct objects always take a.
¿A quién has invitado a la boda?
Who(m) did you invite to the wedding?
¿A quiénes viste anoche en el bar?
Who(m) did you see last night at the bar? (expecting several people)
¿A quién estás esperando?
Who are you waiting for? (esperar takes a person as direct object in Spanish)
This a is grammatically obligatory and is the most consistent error point for English speakers, who naturally say ¿quién viste? by analogy with English "who did you see?". In peninsular Spanish, you must say ¿a quién viste?
3. Indirect object — ¿a quién? + dative
Spanish marks the indirect object with a as well, so ¿a quién(es)? also functions as the indirect-object question. The doubling pronoun le / les is normally added to the verb.
¿A quién le has dado las llaves?
Who did you give the keys to?
¿A quiénes les habéis enviado las invitaciones?
Who did you (plural) send the invitations to?
The doubling le / les is standard in Spain and almost mandatory in spoken language. The form is the same as for direct object questions; context and the verb's argument structure determine which is which.
4. Object of a preposition
Any preposition can precede quién(es): con quién, sin quién, para quién, de quién, por quién, en quién, sobre quién, hacia quién. The preposition always appears at the beginning of the question, never stranded at the end as in English.
¿Con quién vas al concierto?
Who are you going to the concert with?
¿Para quién es este regalo tan grande?
Who is this huge present for?
¿De quién estás hablando?
Who are you talking about?
¿En quién confías más, en tu hermana o en tu mejor amigo?
Who do you trust more, your sister or your best friend?
The error of stranding the preposition at the end (¿quién vas con?) is a strong English-transfer mistake. It is ungrammatical in Spanish — you cannot end a question with a preposition.
The possessive question: ¿De quién?
There is no Spanish word corresponding to English "whose". Spanish expresses possession via the preposition de + quién(es).
¿De quién es ese paraguas?
Whose umbrella is that?
¿De quiénes son estas mochilas?
Whose backpacks are these? (expecting multiple owners)
No sé de quién es este teléfono.
I don't know whose phone this is.
The plural de quiénes is used when the speaker presupposes multiple owners. De quién (singular) is the default if you have no expectation about the number of owners.
¿Quién? in embedded questions
When the question is embedded inside another sentence, the accent is still required, and the same rules about a quién and prepositions still apply.
No sé quién ha llamado a la puerta.
I don't know who knocked on the door.
Pregúntale a quién ha invitado.
Ask him who he invited.
Me pregunto con quién está saliendo Marta últimamente.
I wonder who Marta is dating lately.
This is the same accent rule as for qué, cuál, cuándo, cómo: any interrogative carries an accent even when embedded.
¿Quién? as a rhetorical "no one"
In a few high-frequency idiomatic patterns, ¿quién? introduces a rhetorical question that effectively means "no one" or "who would have thought". These are colloquial and very common in Spain.
¿Quién iba a decir que acabaríamos casados?
Who would have said we'd end up married?
¿Quién no ha hecho una tontería en su juventud?
Who hasn't done something silly in their youth?
¡Quién pudiera estar de vacaciones ahora mismo!
(I wish I could be on vacation right now!) — literally: who could be on vacation right now!
That last pattern, ¡Quién + imperfect subjunctive!, is a peninsular expression of unattainable wish. It is not a real question — note the exclamation marks — but it shares the form. (literary/colloquial)
The accent is non-negotiable
Quién in interrogative or exclamatory use always carries a written tilde. Without it, quien is the relative pronoun for people ("the one who"), which is a different grammatical category entirely.
¿Quién es ese señor?
Who is that man? (interrogative — accent required)
El señor quien me ayudó ayer.
The man who helped me yesterday. (relative — no accent; see relative-quien page)
Embedded questions also keep the accent, even though there is no question mark.
Dime quién es esa persona.
Tell me who that person is. (embedded question — accent required)
Comparison with English "who" / "whom"
English speakers often wonder whether quién corresponds to "who" or "whom." The answer is: both. Modern Spanish has lost the case distinction. The same word quién is used regardless of whether the person is subject, direct object, indirect object, or object of preposition. The grammatical role is marked by the preposition that precedes the word (a, con, para, de, por), not by a different form of the pronoun itself.
This makes Spanish actually easier than English in one respect — there is no "who vs. whom" dilemma — but harder in another: you must remember to add a when the person is a direct or indirect object, which English does not require.
Common mistakes
❌ ¿Quién viste anoche?
Incorrect — missing the personal a for a human direct object
✅ ¿A quién viste anoche?
Who did you see last night?
❌ ¿Quién vas con?
Incorrect — preposition cannot strand at the end in Spanish
✅ ¿Con quién vas?
Who are you going with?
❌ Quien es Marta?
Incorrect — interrogative requires the written accent
✅ ¿Quién es Marta?
Who is Marta?
❌ ¿Quién son tus padres?
Incorrect — plural answer expected, use quiénes with a plural verb
✅ ¿Quiénes son tus padres?
Who are your parents?
❌ ¿De quién carro es este?
Incorrect — there is no 'whose' construction; use 'de quién es este coche' instead
✅ ¿De quién es este coche?
Whose car is this?
Key takeaways
- ¿Quién? = singular "who?"; ¿quiénes? = plural "who?".
- The verb agrees with the form chosen (singular or plural).
- Direct or indirect object → ¿a quién(es)?. Forgetting the a is the most common error.
- Prepositions appear at the beginning, never stranded at the end (¿con quién?, never ¿quién… con?).
- Whose = ¿de quién(es)? — Spanish has no single word for "whose."
- The accent is mandatory in interrogative and exclamatory use, even when embedded inside another sentence.
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