Question Words
Question Words
Spanish question words all carry a written accent mark that doesn't change their pronunciation but flags a question — a spelling signal English has no equivalent for. The bigger structural win for English speakers: Spanish never needs a helper verb like English's 'do' after a question word.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Accented question words vs. their unaccented twins
¿Qué? (What?) vs. que (that/which) — same spelling, different accent
What? vs. that/which — English never spells these the same way
Several Spanish question words double as ordinary connector words when unaccented — qué/que, cómo/como, cuándo/cuando, dónde/donde. The accent mark exists purely to flag 'this is a question,' with no change in how it's pronounced. English has no such overlap: 'what', 'where', and 'who' are always distinct words, never reused for another grammatical job, so there's no direct English habit to lean on here — just a new spelling rule to learn.
No do-support needed — an advantage over English's own habit
¿Dónde vives? (Where do you live?)
Where do you live? — English inserts 'do' here; Spanish needs nothing extra
English questions almost always need a helper verb — 'do/does' — that carries no meaning of its own: 'Where do you live?' Spanish skips this scaffolding entirely: ¿Dónde vives? goes straight from the question word to the real verb, with nothing inserted. Trying to invent a Spanish 'do' is a common and unnecessary reflex for English speakers to unlearn — if anything, this rule makes Spanish questions simpler to build than English ones.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| Spanish | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| qué | keh | what |
| quién | kee-EHN | who |
| dónde | DOHN-deh | where |
| cuándo | KWAHN-doh | when |
| cómo | KOH-moh | how |
| por qué | por keh | why |
| cuánto | KWAHN-toh | how much |
| cuál | kwahl | which |