Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Qual filme você quer ver hoje?

qual filme suggests which movie, usually when you are choosing from a set of options (for example, movies that are showing in the cinema).
que filme is also common in Brazil and can be a bit more informal or neutral, often closer to what movie.
In this specific type of question, Qual filme você quer ver hoje? is very natural and slightly more “correct-sounding” in standard grammar than Que filme você quer ver hoje?, though Brazilians do say both.
Think of qual as often implying which one (of these), while que is more general what.

Why is there no article before filme? Why not Qual o filme or Qual um filme?

In questions with qual directly before a noun, Portuguese often drops the article:

Qual filme você quer ver hoje? – Which movie do you want to see today?
You might also hear: Qual é o filme que você quer ver hoje? – literally Which is the movie that you want to see today?
Here o appears because filme is the subject of é.
Qual o filme você quer ver hoje? is heard in Brazilian speech, but many grammar books consider it less standard; the more “textbook” versions are:
- Qual filme você quer ver hoje?
- Qual é o filme que você quer ver hoje?
Qual um filme… does not work here; um would sound like some movie / any movie, which changes the meaning.

Why is the pronoun você used, and not tu? Are they the same?

In Brazilian Portuguese, você is the most common informal you in most regions.
tu also exists, but:
- It is more common in certain areas (for example, parts of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Pará, Rio de Janeiro, Northeast).
- Its use and verb conjugation vary a lot regionally.
você always takes third‑person singular verbs (like ele/ela), so you say você quer.
If you use tu with standard conjugation, you would say tu queres. In much of Brazil, people still say tu, but use tu quer in speech, which is non‑standard but very widespread.
So Qual filme você quer ver hoje? is the safest, most widely understood Brazilian form.

Can I omit você and just say Qual filme quer ver hoje??

Yes, you can omit the subject pronoun; it is grammatically fine:

Qual filme quer ver hoje? is correct and would appear, for example, in written or more formal contexts.
In everyday spoken Brazilian Portuguese, people more often include você, because it sounds more natural and direct: Qual filme você quer ver hoje?
Without você, the sentence might sound slightly more formal or like something a doctor, waiter, or clerk might say when addressing o senhor / a senhora (formal you) implicitly.

Why is the verb quer and not querer or queres?

querer is the infinitive form: to want.
quer is the present tense conjugation for ele / ela / você (he / she / you):
- eu quero – I want
- você / ele / ela quer – you / he / she wants
- nós queremos – we want
- vocês / eles / elas querem – you (pl.) / they want
Since the subject is você, you must use quer: você quer.
queres is the standard form for tu (in European Portuguese and in more formal/standard Brazilian usage with tu):
- tu queres ver hoje? – you (tu) want to see today?
  This is correct with tu, but doesn’t match você.

Why is it quer ver (want see) and not quer ver a or something like that? How do you say want to see in Portuguese?

Portuguese expresses want to + verb with querer + infinitive, with no extra word like English to:
- quer ver = wants to see
- quero comer = I want to eat
- eles querem viajar = they want to travel
The to is built into the infinitive ending -r (ver, comer, viajar).
So você quer ver hoje literally maps to you want see today, but in correct English we read it as you want to see today.
There is no need for a preposition between quer and ver in this construction.

Why is the verb ver used? What is the difference between ver and assistir with movies?

Both are common with movies, but there are nuances:

ver um filme = literally to see a movie, very common and fully natural.
assistir a um filme = to watch a movie.
Prescriptive grammar says assistir meaning to watch takes the preposition a:
- assistir a um filme
- assistir à TV
In everyday Brazilian speech, many people drop the a:
- assistir um filme, assistir TV – very common but considered less formal.
In your sentence, ver is just the simpler, neutral choice.
You could also say Que filme você quer assistir hoje? or Qual filme você quer assistir hoje?

Why is hoje at the end? Can I put hoje somewhere else?

Yes, you can move hoje without changing the basic meaning:

Qual filme você quer ver hoje? – most neutral, very common.
Hoje, qual filme você quer ver? – emphasizes today a bit more; feels like Today, which movie do you want to see?
Qual filme hoje você quer ver? – possible, but less natural than the first two.
In general, Brazilian Portuguese often places time expressions like hoje, amanhã, depois at the beginning or end of the sentence; the end position is very typical in speech.

How would I make this question more polite or formal?

You can soften or formalize it in a few ways:

Use gostaria (would like) or queria (imperfect of querer, used politely):
- Qual filme você gostaria de ver hoje?
- Qual filme você queria ver hoje?
Use formal pronouns o senhor / a senhora:
- Qual filme o senhor gostaria de ver hoje?
- Qual filme a senhora quer ver hoje?
All of these sound more polite than the plain Qual filme você quer ver hoje?, which is friendly and neutral.

How do I change this to talk to more than one person (plural you)?

You change você to vocês and adjust the verb:

Qual filme vocês querem ver hoje? – Which movie do you (all) want to see today?
Verb pattern:
- você quer – you (sing.) want
- vocês querem – you (pl.) want
If you are choosing between several movies and want to make that explicit:
- Quais filmes vocês querem ver hoje? – Which movies do you (all) want to see today?

How are the words in Qual filme você quer ver hoje? pronounced?

Approximate Brazilian pronunciation (in simple English terms):

Qual – like kwahl (one syllable, open a as in father).
filme – FEEL‑mee (the l makes the vowel sound a bit like fiw‑mee in many accents).
você – voh‑SEH (stress on the last syllable; the ê is a closed e).
quer – keh(r). In Brazil the final r can sound like an h ([keh]) or a guttural r, depending on the region.
ver – veh(r), again with regional variation in the final r.
hoje – OH‑zhee (the j sounds like the s in measure; two syllables: HO‑je).

Spoken naturally, the sentence flows as: Kwahl FEEL‑mee voh‑SEH keh(r) VEH(r) OH‑zhee? with the voice rising at the end to show it is a question.

Is the word order different in a Portuguese question compared to a statement?

In this kind of question, the word order is the same as in a statement:

Statement: Você quer ver um filme hoje. – You want to see a movie today.
Yes–no question: Você quer ver um filme hoje? – Do you want to see a movie today?
(Same order; only intonation and the question mark change.)
Wh‑question: Qual filme você quer ver hoje? – You just add Qual filme at the front; the rest keeps the normal statement order: você quer ver.
Portuguese does not need a helper verb like do; it mostly uses intonation and question words (qual, que, quando, onde, por que) to show that it is a question.