Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Cuándo hacen las camas los chicos?

¿Cuándo hacen las camas los chicos?

When do the boys make the beds?

Breakdown of ¿Cuándo hacen las camas los chicos?

la cama

the bed

el chico

the boy (older / teenager)

Questions & Answers about ¿Cuándo hacen las camas los chicos?

Why does cuándo have an accent mark?

In Spanish, all question words like cuándo (when), cómo (how), and por qué (why) must have an accent mark. This helps tell them apart from the exact same words when they are used in normal statements, like saying "I will go when I have time."

Why is los chicos at the very end of the sentence?

In Spanish questions, the subject (the person or thing doing the action, which is los chicos here) often goes after the verb, or even at the end of the entire sentence. While an English speaker naturally wants to use the English word order and say ¿Cuándo los chicos hacen las camas?, placing the subject at the end sounds much more natural in Spanish.

Where is the word for "do" in this question?

There isn't one! English uses helper verbs like "do" or "does" to form questions ("When do the boys..."). Spanish doesn't use helper verbs this way. The single verb hacen is all you need to ask the question.

Does the verb hacer mean "to do" or "to make"?

It actually means both! Spanish uses the same verb, hacer, for both "to do" and "to make". You have to rely on the context to know which one sounds better in English. Here, hacen las camas translates to "they make the beds".