/ke/
Translation
what (interrogative); how, what a... (exclamative)
Word origin
From the same Latin root as the unaccented que - quid and quod, the interrogative and relative neuter forms of qui. The written accent is a purely modern convention (the tilde diacrítica) that the Real Academia Española uses to mark the interrogative and exclamative sense, not a different origin.
- Origin
- Latin
- Root
- quid
Examples
¿ ?
What time is it?
.
I do not know what to do about this problem.
¡ !
What a surprise to see you here!
Qué, with the accent, is the interrogative and exclamative word - "what" in a question ("¿Qué quieres?" - What do you want?) and "how" or "what a" in an exclamation ("¡Qué bonito!" - How lovely!). Que, without the accent, is the everyday relative pronoun and conjunction - "that" or "which" ("el libro que leí" - the book that I read) and the word that introduces a subordinate clause ("creo que sí" - I think so). The accent is the only thing that separates two of the most frequent words in the language.
The trap is the indirect question: qué keeps its accent even when there is no question mark, because the sense is still interrogative - "no sé qué hacer" (I do not know what to do) needs the accent just as much as a direct question does. Drop it and you have written the relative pronoun by mistake.
Where this fits
Used in
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Spanish Conditional: the 'Would' Tense, me gustaría and Polite Requests
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Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives: este, ese, aquel and the Three-Way Distance Split
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The Spanish Present Perfect Subjunctive (haya hablado), with Practice
The Spanish Pluperfect Subjunctive and Conditional Perfect (hubiera hablado, habría hablado)
Spanish Politeness: Softening Requests (¿Podría...?, ¿Te importaría...?, quisiera)
Por vs Para in Spanish: The Rules, a Chart, and a Practice Quiz
The Spanish Present Progressive: estar + gerundio, and Why It Is Not the English -ing
Spanish Punctuation and Capitalisation: the opening ¿ and ¡, lowercase lunes and español
Spanish Question Words: qué, quién, cuándo, dónde, cómo, cuál, cuánto, por qué
Spanish Reflexive Verbs: levantarse, llamarse, lavarse and the Pronoun Position
Reported Questions and Commands in Spanish (me preguntó si, me dijo que viniera)
Saber vs Conocer: The Two Spanish Verbs for 'To Know'
Si Clauses in Spanish: Real and Unreal Conditions (si llueve, si tuviera, si hubiera)
Spanish Stem-Changing Verbs: e>ie, o>ue, e>i and the Boot Pattern
Spanish Word Order: SVO, Pro-Drop and the Five Rules That Cover 90% of Sentences
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qué: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Spanish word "qué" (what (interrogative); how, what a... (exclamative)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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