La cuestión sigue abierta.

In Spanish, it is very common to use the definite article where English might not.

So la cuestión means the issue / the question / the matter. Without the article, cuestión would usually sound less natural here unless it appeared in a different structure, such as:

• Es cuestión de tiempo. = It’s a matter of time.
• No es cuestión de dinero. = It’s not a question of money.

In La cuestión sigue abierta, the speaker is referring to a specific issue already known in the context.

Here, cuestión usually means issue, matter, or question in the sense of something still under discussion or unresolved.

It does not usually mean a simple spoken question like What time is it? For that, pregunta is often more straightforward.

Compare:

• Tengo una pregunta. = I have a question.
• La cuestión sigue abierta. = The issue remains open.

So in this sentence, cuestión sounds more like matter under consideration than question asked aloud.

Sigue comes from seguir, which here means to continue or to remain.

So:

• La cuestión sigue abierta = The issue remains open / continues to be open

If you said está abierta, that would simply mean it is open.
Using sigue abierta adds the idea that it was already open before and still is.

That continuing sense is the key difference.

Because abierta agrees with la cuestión, which is a feminine singular noun.

Agreement in Spanish means adjectives usually match the noun in:

• gender: masculine / feminine
• number: singular / plural

So:

• la cuestión abierta
• el tema abierto
• las cuestiones abiertas

Since cuestión is feminine singular, abierta must also be feminine singular.

It is usually figurative here.

Abierta literally means open, but in this sentence it means something like:

• still unresolved
• still undecided
• still under discussion

This figurative use is very common in both Spanish and English:

• un debate abierto = an open debate
• una herida abierta = an open wound, either literal or figurative depending on context

So La cuestión sigue abierta means the matter has not been settled yet.

Sigue is the third person singular present indicative of seguir.

Why present tense?

Because the sentence describes the current state of the issue:

• La cuestión sigue abierta. = The issue is still open.

The present tense works well because it tells us what is true now.

Related examples:

• La cuestión siguió abierta durante años. = The issue remained open for years.
• La cuestión seguirá abierta. = The issue will remain open.

Yes, you could, but the meaning is slightly different.

• La cuestión está abierta = The issue is open.
• La cuestión sigue abierta = The issue is still open / remains open.

So sigue abierta is better if you want to stress continuation.

In many contexts, sigue abierta sounds more natural when there is an implied history: people expected a resolution, but it has not happened yet.

It is fairly neutral to formal.

La cuestión sigue abierta sounds natural in:

• news
• formal discussion
• essays
• meetings
• political or legal contexts

In more everyday speech, people might also say things like:

• El tema sigue abierto.
• Eso todavía no está resuelto.
• Aún no se ha decidido.

So the sentence is perfectly natural, but it has a slightly more formal or polished tone.

Yes, sometimes.

• La cuestión sigue abierta
• El tema sigue abierto

Both can work, but they are not always identical.

Cuestión often sounds a bit more like:

• an issue
• a disputed matter
• something requiring resolution

Tema is broader and can simply mean:

• topic
• subject
• issue

So cuestión can feel slightly more precise or formal in contexts involving debate, doubt, or unresolved status.

Yes, but the normal order is:

• La cuestión sigue abierta.

That is the most natural neutral version.

You might see different word order for emphasis, especially in writing:

• Sigue abierta la cuestión.

This is grammatically correct, but it sounds more marked or literary. For most learners, the standard order is the best choice.

A careful Spain pronunciation would be roughly:

la kwes-TYON SEE-ge a-BYER-ta

A few useful points:

• cuestión has the stress on the last syllable: -tión
• sigue is pronounced with a hard g sound: SEE-ge
• in most of Spain, c before i/e and z are pronounced with the th sound of think, but that does not affect this sentence much because cuestión has cu, not ce/ci

More approximate IPA for Spain: la kwesˈtjon ˈsiɣe aˈβjerta

Yes, very common.

This pattern means to continue to be or to remain in a certain state.

Examples:

• Sigue siendo importante. = It remains important.
• La puerta sigue cerrada. = The door is still closed.
• Todo sigue igual. = Everything is still the same.
• La cuestión sigue abierta. = The issue remains open.

This is a very useful structure to learn because Spanish often uses seguir where English uses still or remain.