“Qué” vs. “Cuál” in Spanish
Used to ask something in general, something we don’t know anything about. If the verb carries a preposition, the preposition goes before qué.
¿Qué es la biología?
What is biology?
¿Qué harás mañana?
What will you do tomorrow?
¿De qué hablas?
What are you talking about?
When in a sentence working as a question
There are no question marks but there’s the intention of a question.
Me pregunto qué es un hobbit.
I wonder what a hobbit is.
Used as an expression of emotion, feeling or reaction.
¡Qué mañana tan agradable!
What a nice morning!
Used to ask for an option between a list of similar possibilities. Both the speaker and the listener know about these possibilities, they expect them to be familiar. If the verb carries a preposition, the preposition goes before cuál.
¿Cuál es tu fruta favorita?
What/which is your favorite fruit?
¿Cuál es tu opinión?
What/Which is your opinion?
¿Cuál es el mío?
Which one is mine?
¿De cuál hablas?
Which one are you talking about?
¿Cuál es tu nombre?
What is your name?
Note: ¿Qué es tu nombre? sounds off and translates as “what is ‘your name’” as in somebody who doesn’t know what names are.
When in a sentence working as a question
There are no question marks but there’s the intention of a question.
Me pregunto cuál es la fruta favorita de mi madre.
I wonder what my mom’s favorite fruit is.
Remember that cuáles is used for when using the plural, but qué never changes. Cuál/cuáles is also used in exclamations, but it is so rare that I think I will talk about that in another post.
¿Qué quieres hacer?¿Ir al cine o comer algo?
What do you want to do? Go to the movies or eat something?
Estrenaron Spider-man y La monja. ¿Cuál quieres ver?
Spider-man and The nun came out. Which one do you want to watch?
