Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Qué estudia ese chico?

¿Qué estudia ese chico?

What is that boy studying?

Breakdown of ¿Qué estudia ese chico?

the boy (older / teenager)

Questions & Answers about ¿Qué estudia ese chico?

Why does qué have an accent mark?

In Spanish, question words like qué (what), quién (who), and dónde (where) always have a written accent mark. This helps distinguish them from their non-question forms, such as the word que, which just means "that".

The translation says "is studying", but isn't estudia just "studies"?

Yes! In Spanish, the simple present tense like estudia can mean both "studies" and "is studying". You don't need to add an extra verb to ask what he is doing right now.

Why is the verb estudia before the subject ese chico?

In Spanish questions, it is very common to swap the normal sentence order and put the action before the person doing it. So instead of saying "What that boy studies?", the Spanish order is literally "What studies that boy?" (¿Qué estudia ese chico?).

Why use ese chico instead of eso chico for "that boy"?

Ese is the specific word for "that" when it comes right before a masculine noun like chico. You only use eso when talking about a general idea or an unknown object, and it never goes directly in front of a noun.