Learn Portuguese (Portugal): Há muitos sapatos aqui. Quais queres comprar? - There are many shoes here. Which ones do you want to buy?

Há muitos sapatos aqui. Quais queres comprar?

There are many shoes here. Which ones do you want to buy?

Breakdown of Há muitos sapatos aqui. Quais queres comprar?

to be (there is / there are)

comprar

to buy

Questions & Answers about Há muitos sapatos aqui. Quais queres comprar?

Why is it quais here instead of qual?

Qual means which or what when you are asking about a single thing. Because the speaker is asking about shoes (sapatos), which is plural, the question word must also be plural. Therefore, it becomes quais.

Does quais translate exactly to which ones? Why isn't there a Portuguese word for ones?

In Portuguese, you do not need a separate word for ones. The word quais by itself perfectly translates to which ones because its plural form already shows you are asking about multiple items from a specific group.

I thought há meant there is. Can it also mean there are?

Yes! The verb form há is used for both there is and there are. It never changes to a plural form, even when you are talking about many items like muitos sapatos.

Why is comprar left in its dictionary form?

When you have two verbs acting together like this, only the first one is conjugated. Queres already shows who is doing the action (you want), so the second verb, comprar (to buy), stays in its original infinitive form.