Qui té la culpa?

Who is to blame?

Breakdown of Qui té la culpa?

• tenir: to have
• qui: who? (interrogative pronoun)
• la culpa: fault; blame

Questions & Answers about Qui té la culpa?

What does qui mean here?

Qui means who. It is the interrogative word used to ask about a person.

So Qui té la culpa? literally starts with Who... ?

Why is the verb té and not tenen or something else?

Because qui is treated as grammatically singular in this kind of question.

• qui = who
• té = has / is the one who has

So Catalan uses the 3rd person singular form:

• Qui té la culpa? = Who is to blame?
• literally: Who has the blame/fault?

Even though the answer could refer to more than one person, the question word itself takes singular agreement.

Why does té have an accent?

The accent in té helps distinguish it from te.

• té = has (from tenir, to have)
• te = you in some uses, or tea in some contexts depending on dialect/spelling conventions

So the accent is important because it marks a different word and also helps with pronunciation.