Qué is the workhorse Spanish question word for "what." It opens definitions (¿Qué es esto?), demands choices (¿Qué prefieres?), pairs with nouns to mean "which" in a generic sense (¿Qué libro lees?), and powers a whole family of exclamations (¡Qué bonito!). It is also the single most common word in Spanish where the written accent actually changes the meaning: qué with an accent is the question word; que without one is the relative pronoun or the conjunction "that." Get this right and a huge proportion of everyday Spanish opens up.
The basic shape: ¿qué? for "what"
In a direct question, ¿qué? sits at the front of the sentence, between the inverted opening ¿ and the closing ?, and the verb follows immediately. Spanish does not use an auxiliary like English do/does, and it does not require a subject pronoun.
¿Qué quieres?
What do you want?
¿Qué haces este finde?
What are you doing this weekend? — (informal; finde is the everyday clipping of fin de semana in Spain)
¿Qué ha pasado?
What's happened? / What happened?
Notice that the verb comes straight after qué — no scaffolding, no inversion of a subject pronoun. English speakers often want to insert a literal do: ¿Qué tú quieres? is not a Peninsular Spanish question and sounds Caribbean rather than Madrid or Sevilla.
Asking for a definition: ¿qué es…?
When you want a definition or an identification — "what is X?" — qué is the right word. This is the place where English-speakers most often slip into cuál by analogy with "what is your name." The Spanish rule is the opposite of English intuition: ¿Qué es…? asks what category of thing it is, and ¿Cuál es…? asks which specific one out of a set you already know exists.
¿Qué es la sobremesa?
What is 'la sobremesa'? — Asking for a definition of a Spanish cultural concept (the long after-meal chat at the table).
¿Qué es esto?
What is this? — Pointing at an unknown object.
¿Qué es un autónomo?
What is a 'freelancer/self-employed person'? — Asking for the definition of a category.
Qué + noun: which X (generic selection)
Put a noun directly after qué and you get the equivalent of English which X — but with a particular flavour. ¿Qué + noun? asks about an X in the abstract, without presupposing a specific set of options on the table. ¿Cuál de los + nouns? asks about a specific set the speakers can both see or have just named.
¿Qué libro lees?
Which book are you reading? — General question; no specific stack of books in front of you.
¿Qué hora es?
What time is it? — Fixed phrase. Never ¿Cuál es la hora? in Spain.
¿Qué tipo de música te gusta?
What kind of music do you like? — Qué + noun for categories.
¿Qué color prefieres, el rojo o el azul?
Which colour do you prefer, the red one or the blue one? — Even though there's a specific set, qué + noun is more natural than cuál + noun (in fact, cuál + noun is largely avoided in Peninsular Spanish).
That last example is the pattern English-speakers most often get wrong. In English you would say which colour, and you might assume cuál color is right. In Peninsular Spanish, cuál almost never appears directly before a noun. Stick with qué + noun and you will sound native; the cuál page handles the cases where cuál is required.
With prepositions: ¿de qué?, ¿a qué?, ¿con qué?, ¿para qué?
Spanish does not strand prepositions at the end of clauses the way English does. What are you talking about? cannot be ¿Qué hablas sobre? — the preposition has to come before qué.
¿De qué hablas?
What are you talking about? — De qué, never qué … de.
¿A qué te dedicas?
What do you do for a living? — A standard small-talk opener in Spain; the literal translation 'to what do you dedicate yourself' shows how foreign the structure feels to English.
¿Con qué lo has hecho?
What did you make it with? — Con qué, never qué … con.
¿Para qué sirve esto?
What's this for? / What does this do? — Para qué = 'for what purpose'; do not confuse with por qué (= why).
The minimal pair ¿para qué? vs ¿por qué? is worth memorising on its own: ¿para qué? asks about purpose ("what for, to what end"), ¿por qué? asks about cause ("why, for what reason"). ¿Por qué lloras? — Because I'm sad. ¿Para qué lloras? — So that you'll feel sorry for me. The two questions imply very different worldviews. The full treatment of por qué and its homophones lives on the por qué page.
Embedded (indirect) questions: no sé qué…
When qué lives inside a larger sentence rather than at the front of a direct question, it keeps its accent. This is the rule that surprises learners most, because there are no question marks and the sentence "doesn't look like a question." Spanish considers the meaning, not the punctuation: if you are reporting or referring to a question, qué takes the accent.
No sé qué hacer.
I don't know what to do. — Embedded question; qué still carries its accent.
Dime qué quieres.
Tell me what you want.
Me pregunto qué pensará.
I wonder what he'll think.
Compare these with the non-interrogative que (no accent), which introduces a statement: Sé que viene mañana ("I know he's coming tomorrow"). The two-letter word que without an accent is a conjunction or a relative pronoun; qué with an accent always carries the meaning "what."
¿Qué tal? — the most common greeting
¿Qué tal? is the everyday Peninsular Spanish equivalent of How's it going? — used to greet friends, family, and people you've just been introduced to. It can stand alone or be followed by a noun ("how is X?") or a verb ("how does/did X go?").
¿Qué tal?
How's it going? — Standard greeting.
¿Qué tal el viaje?
How was the trip?
¿Qué tal te ha ido el examen?
How did the exam go for you?
Exclamatives: ¡qué + adjective/noun/adverb!
Qué with its accent also powers exclamations: "How beautiful!", "What a mess!", "How well you sing!" The pattern is ¡qué + word! — and unlike English, Spanish does not insert an indefinite article between qué and a singular noun.
¡Qué bonito!
How beautiful! / How lovely!
¡Qué calor!
It's so hot! — Literally 'what heat!'; the bare noun, no article.
¡Qué bien cantas!
You sing so well! — ¡Qué + adverb + verb!
¡Qué día!
What a day! — Notice: no 'a' before día. Spanish never says ¡Qué un día!
To intensify further, Peninsular Spanish often adds más or tan before an adjective: ¡Qué día más largo! / ¡Qué día tan largo! ("What a long day!"). The two forms are interchangeable; más is slightly more common in colloquial speech, tan slightly more literary.
¿Qué? as a one-word reply
On its own, ¿Qué? means "What?" — as in "Sorry, what did you say?" or "What did you want?" It is less polite than the alternatives, especially when said with rising volume; it can sound aggressive or impatient. Peninsular Spanish has softer options:
- ¿Cómo? — the polite "Pardon?" / "Sorry?" when you didn't catch what was said.
- ¿Mande? — old-fashioned and now mostly Mexican; almost extinct in Spain.
- ¿Qué dices? — "What are you saying?" / "What?!" with surprise or disbelief.
- ¿Perdón? — "Sorry?" The most formal of the bunch.
— Te he dicho que mañana no vengo. — ¿Cómo? Perdona, no te he oído.
— I told you I'm not coming tomorrow. — Sorry, what? I didn't hear you. — ¿Cómo? is the standard polite request to repeat.
The written accent: qué vs que
Every example on this page has qué with an accent because every example is interrogative or exclamative. Spelled without the accent, the same letters mean something completely different: que is the relative pronoun ("that, which") or the conjunction "that."
| Spelling | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| qué (with accent) | "what" — interrogative or exclamative | ¿Qué quieres? / ¡Qué bonito! |
| que (no accent) | "that, which" — relative pronoun | el libro que leí (the book that I read) |
| que (no accent) | "that" — conjunction introducing a clause | Sé que viene (I know that he's coming) |
The rule is mechanical: any time qué would be replaceable in English by what or carries the meaning of a question, it takes the accent. Any time it links two clauses without itself being a question word, it does not. There is no in-between case.
Sé qué quieres.
I know what you want. — Embedded question: qué with accent.
Sé que lo quieres.
I know that you want it. — Conjunction 'that': no accent on que.
The minimal pair is real: Sé qué quieres ("I know what you want — I can read your wish") vs Sé que lo quieres ("I know that you want it"). Same letters, different worlds.
Common mistakes
❌ ¿Qué es tu nombre?
Wrong — asking 'what is the definition of your name' rather than 'which of all names is yours'.
✅ ¿Cómo te llamas? / ¿Cuál es tu nombre?
What's your name? — Spaniards default to ¿cómo te llamas?; ¿cuál es tu nombre? is the formal alternative. Never ¿qué es tu nombre?
❌ ¿Que quieres?
Missing accent — looks like a relative clause fragment, not a question.
✅ ¿Qué quieres?
What do you want? — The accent is obligatory in every direct and indirect question.
❌ ¿Qué hablas sobre?
Preposition stranded at the end — impossible in Spanish.
✅ ¿De qué hablas?
What are you talking about? — Preposition pulled to the front of the question word.
❌ No sé que hacer.
Embedded question with no accent — looks like 'I don't know that to do', which is meaningless.
✅ No sé qué hacer.
I don't know what to do. — Embedded questions still carry the accent.
❌ ¡Qué un día tan largo!
Wrong — Spanish never inserts the indefinite article between qué and a noun in exclamatives.
✅ ¡Qué día tan largo!
What a long day! — No 'un' between qué and día.
❌ ¿Qué tú quieres?
Caribbean Spanish word order, not Peninsular. Sounds wrong in Madrid or Barcelona.
✅ ¿Qué quieres (tú)?
What do you want? — Subject pronoun, if used at all, goes after the verb, and is usually omitted entirely.
Key takeaways
- ¿Qué? is the all-purpose "what" of Spanish: definitions, things, choices, exclamations.
- The written accent is obligatory in every interrogative and exclamative use, including embedded questions (no sé qué…).
- ¿Qué + noun? = "which X" in generic selection. Use this where English would say which; reserve cuál for selection with de from a specific named set.
- For "what is your X?", use ¿Cuál es tu X? — ¿Qué es…? asks for a definition, not for identification.
- Prepositions go before qué, never at the end: ¿de qué?, ¿con qué?, ¿para qué?
- ¡Qué + noun! in exclamatives takes no article: ¡Qué calor!, never ¡Qué un calor!
- ¿Qué? on its own can sound rude; reach for ¿Cómo? when asking someone to repeat.
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