Voted Best Answer
Mar 05, 2015 - 05:45 AM
Hallo everyone
The difference between “qué” and “cuál” can be a bit confusing for English speakers because it is not exactly like in English. In the program we introduce new uses step by step to give you time to assimilate these differences. In general, as Bksatty9 said, think of “qué” (which is introduced in session 3 of level 1) as the equivalent of “what”, so we use it when there are a lot of possibilities as in:
What do you want to eat? - ¿Qué quiere comer?
And “cuál” (which we see in session 5 of level 1) would then be the equivalent of “which” so we use it when there is a limited, specific selection to choose from:
Which one is my dish? - ¿Cuál es mi plato?
But there are exceptions. We ALWAYS use “cuál” when asking for somebody’s name (as you saw in session 9 of level 1) or address. So it’s always:
¿Cuál es su nombre? – What’s her name?
¿Cuál es su dirección? – What’s his address?
And we ALWAYS use “qué” when we want a definition, as in:
What is a ‘chiringuito’? - ¿Qué es un ‘chiringuito’?
Now, depending on region, we use “qué” when “what” or even “which” are followed by a noun. So in Spain, for example, it would be:
What dish does (she) want? - ¿Qué plato quiere?
Which restaurant do (they) prefer? - ¿Qué restaurante prefieren?
Which hotel is she at? - ¿En qué hotel está ella?
But:
Which one is she at?
Would be: ¿En cuál está ella?
As always with Spanish there might be some regional variances. And as always, we’ll go step by step in the program.
The difference between “qué” and “cuál” can be a bit confusing for English speakers because it is not exactly like in English. In the program we introduce new uses step by step to give you time to assimilate these differences. In general, as Bksatty9 said, think of “qué” (which is introduced in session 3 of level 1) as the equivalent of “what”, so we use it when there are a lot of possibilities as in:
What do you want to eat? - ¿Qué quiere comer?
And “cuál” (which we see in session 5 of level 1) would then be the equivalent of “which” so we use it when there is a limited, specific selection to choose from:
Which one is my dish? - ¿Cuál es mi plato?
But there are exceptions. We ALWAYS use “cuál” when asking for somebody’s name (as you saw in session 9 of level 1) or address. So it’s always:
¿Cuál es su nombre? – What’s her name?
¿Cuál es su dirección? – What’s his address?
And we ALWAYS use “qué” when we want a definition, as in:
What is a ‘chiringuito’? - ¿Qué es un ‘chiringuito’?
Now, depending on region, we use “qué” when “what” or even “which” are followed by a noun. So in Spain, for example, it would be:
What dish does (she) want? - ¿Qué plato quiere?
Which restaurant do (they) prefer? - ¿Qué restaurante prefieren?
Which hotel is she at? - ¿En qué hotel está ella?
But:
Which one is she at?
Would be: ¿En cuál está ella?
As always with Spanish there might be some regional variances. And as always, we’ll go step by step in the program.