ELONIO
Log inSign up

¿Qué lee el hombre?

¿Qué lee el hombre?
What is the man reading?
From Lesson 21:What and who (qué, quién)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of ¿Qué lee el hombre?

leer
to read
qué
what
el hombre
the man

Questions & Answers about ¿Qué lee el hombre?

Why does qué have an accent mark here?
All Spanish question words (like qué, quién, and dónde) always have an accent mark. This shows it's a question word and helps tell it apart from the exact same word used in regular statements (for example, the word que without an accent means "that").
Does the word qué change if the man is reading plural or feminine things?
No, qué never changes its form. Whether the man is reading one book, ten magazines, or a letter, "what" will always be qué. This is different from the word for "who" (quién), which changes to quiénes if you are asking about more than one person.
Why are the words in the order lee el hombre instead of el hombre lee?
In Spanish questions, it is very common to swap the subject (el hombre) and the verb (lee). After a question word like qué, the verb almost always comes right after it. So, Spanish literally asks, "What reads the man?".
The English translation says "is reading". Doesn't lee just mean "reads"?
It means both! In Spanish, the simple present tense covers both concepts. Lee can mean "he reads" or "he is reading" (and even "does he read?"). You don't need a separate verb for "is" here; the context tells you it's happening right now.

Learn ¿Qué lee el hombre and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →