Spanish Interrogatives - Asking Questions

Spanish Interrogatives - Asking Questions

In this lesson we have several new things to learn. We are going to focus on the construction of questions in this lesson. One thing that we need to know about is the words, called "interrogatives", which are often used to ask questions, such as "who", "where", "why", etc. Here is a short list of some of the common interrogative words that you should memorize.

INTERROGATIVE WORDS dónde where?
por qué why?
quién who?
cómo how?
cuándo when?

Notice that these interrogative words have accent marks on them. Sometimes these same words are used in sentences that are not questions, and then there is no accent mark. The accent mark does not affect the pronunciation of these words.

Another thing which we want to focus on in these sentences is the use of the letter "r" at the end of a verb to make it say, "to do something". For example, we have seen the verb "habla" ("he speaks"). If we say, "we speak", we would put "mos" on the end of the verb. If we say, "they speak", we would put "n" on the end of the verb, after the letter "a". However, if we say someone needs "to speak", or is going "to speak", then we put "r" on the end of the verb which will be the equivalent of the word "to" which we add in front of the verb in English.

We will work with several verbs in this lesson. Here is a list.

to believe creer
to study estudiar
to need necesitar
to learn aprender

These verbs are regular. Their forms follow a pattern and are predictable. There are some verbs, however, which are "irregular", that is, they have forms which are exceptions that we can not predict. We just have to memorize them. One which we will use a lot is the verb "saber" which means "to know". Here is the chart for that verb.

I know yo sé
you know tú sabes
he/she knows él/ella sabe
we know nosotros sabemos
they know ellos/ellas saben

In Spanish we have more than one way to say "is", depending on what we mean. When we say what something is or who someone is, we use "es". When we say where someone or something is, or how (what condition) something is, we use "está". Then we have "is" in the phrase, "there is". In Spanish this is "hay". We also use it when more than one item is involved. In English we would say, "there are" (several items), but in Spanish it would still be "hay".

Finally, we have some new words to learn. We have used "porque" already. It means "because". We have seen nouns in the "O" category and the "A" category. The nouns ending in "o" use "el" for "the", and nouns ending in "a" use "la" for "the". However, in this lesson we see the noun "clase" which ends in "e". When a noun ends in "e" we can't just "guess" whether it is "O" or "A" category. There are some nouns ending in "e" which count as "O" category, and others which count as "A" category. When you learn a new noun, you just have to memorize the category (with "el" or "la") if it ends in "e".

Oh, I almost forgot. One more little detail. The names of languages are capitalized in English, but not in Spanish. Let's take a little look at the following chart. Notice that in Spanish we do not capitalize the languages like we do in English.

English inglés
Spanish español
French francés
German alemán
Japanese japonés

Where is John?
Do you know where John is?
I believe that John is in the library.
John is studying the words for the Spanish class.
John needs to study.
I need to study.
I need to learn the words for the Spanish class.
Where is the dictionary?
Do you know where the dictionary is?
Mary says that she doesn't know where the dictionary is.
I need the dictionary because I need to study the words.
We need to study the words.
We need to learn the words for the Spanish class.
The boys are in the library.
Why are the boys in the library?
Do you know why the boys are in the library?
I think that the boys are in the library because they need to study.
Mary says that the boys are studying in the library.
They are studying the words for the Spanish class.
Tomorrow there is a test in the Spanish class.
We need to study the words because tomorrow there is a test in the Spanish class.
John says that he needs to study because tomorrow there is a test in the Spanish class.
John says that he doesn't know the words.
He needs the dictionary because he needs to study the words for the test in the Spanish class.
The boys don't know where the dictionary is.

¿ Dónde está Juan?

¿ Sabes dónde está Juan?

Yo creo que Juan está en la biblioteca.

Juan estudia las palabras para la clase de español.

Juan necesita estudiar.

Yo necesito estudiar.

Yo necesito aprender las palabras para la clase de español.

¿ Dónde está el diccionario?

¿ Sabes dónde está el diccionario?

María dice que ella no sabe dónde está el diccionario.

Yo necesito el diccionario porque yo necesito estudiar las palabras.

Nosotros necesitamos estudiar las palabras.

Nosotros necesitamos aprender las palabras para la clase de español.

Los muchachos están en la biblioteca.

¿ Por qué están los muchachos en la biblioteca?

¿ Sabes por qué los muchachos están en la biblioteca?

Yo creo que los muchachos están en la biblioteca porque ellos necesitan estudiar.

María dice que los muchachos estudian en la biblioteca.

Ellos estudian las palabras para la clase de español.

Mañana hay un examen en la clase de español.

Nosotros necesitamos estudiar las palabras porque mañana hay un examen en la clase de español.

Juan dice que él necesita estudiar porque mañana hay un examen en la clase de español.

Juan dice que él no sabe las palabras.

El necesita el diccionario porque él necesita estudiar las palabras para el examen en la clase de español.

Los muchachos no saben dónde está el diccionario.

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