#what which

[sirussly]

(( OOC: This just in: neither I or @vagueenthusiast are capable of speaking English. ))

[ourspanishblog]

Hi there! I have a question that's been kinda bugging me for the past few days and I can't seem to find the answer. In Spanish qué means 'what' and cuál means 'which' right? How come if I saw 'what is your number' it's ¿cuál es tu numero de telefono? Instead of qué es tu numero de telefono? Or 'cuál es tu color favorito' Instead of 'qué es tu color favorito'. Thanks!! Hope you understand what I said lmao

¡Hola!

I made a post about qué and cuál, you can check it here.

So cuál is not only which, it can also be what in English.We use qué for general/universal things, and cuál for specific/particular things. Somebody’s name, personal information or personal interests are specific things, only for them. So that’s why we use “cuál”. 

We use qué for general information or dictionary meanings.

For example, I can ask:¿Qué es la vida? - What is life?

But if I want to know something more specific about life then I ask:¿Cuál es el significado de la vida? - What is the meaning of life?

Another example:¿Qué son las estrellas? - What are stars?¿Cuál es la estrella más cercana a la Tierra? - What is the closest star to Earth?

So, questions with qué just look for information about the existence of “life” and “stars”. But questions with cuál look for specific features about “life” and “stars”.

“¿Qué es nombre?” means “What is name?” as the existence of the word “name”, the dictionary meaning of “name”. That’s why it doesn’t make much sense if you ask “¿Qué es tu nombre?”But “¿Cuál es tu nombre?” is a question that looks for someone’s specific feature or characteristic. 

I hope I didn’t confuse you even more.😅