If you’re learning Spanish, one of the first question words you’ll encounter is qué.
Qué means “what” and is used when asking for information, explanations, definitions, or clarification.
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Here are some common examples:
¿Qué haces? (What are you doing?)
¿Qué estudias? (What do you study?)
¿Qué quieres comer? (What do you want to eat?)
¿Qué significa esta palabra? (What does this word mean?)
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In each of these examples, the speaker is asking for specific information. That’s the primary role of qué in Spanish.
One detail that’s easy to overlook is the accent mark.
When used as a question word, qué always carries a written accent.
Correct:
¿Qué haces?
¿Qué quieres?
Incorrect:
Que haces?
Que quieres?
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The accent distinguishes the interrogative form from que, which has several other grammatical functions in Spanish, such as introducing subordinate clauses.
Compare these two examples:
¿Qué quieres?
(What do you want?)
Sé que quieres aprender español.
(I know that you want to learn Spanish.)
In the first sentence, qué asks a question, so it takes an accent.
In the second sentence, que functions as a conjunction meaning “that,” so it does not.
Learning to recognize this difference will make both your writing and your reading much more accurate.
Although qué is a simple word, it appears constantly in everyday Spanish conversations, making it one of the most important question words to master early.
Questions with Interrogative Words in Spanish
Vikas Kumar is the founder of My Language Classes, a language learning platform dedicated to helping learners develop practical communication skills in Spanish, Japanese, and English through comprehensive grammar guides, structured learning resources, books, and evidence-informed educational content.
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