How do you say “What” in Spanish?

Asking questions is an important part of any conversation, regardless of the language. Questions can help you learn more about a topic, understand someone’s speech, or find out more information. Asking questions in a foreign language can be intimidating, but it is a great way to practice the language. Let’s look at some useful vocabulary and examples on how to say “what” in Spanish.

Qué

The most common way, although not the only one, to ask a question that starts with “what” in Spanish is using the interrogative “qué.”

For example, to say “what is it?” in Spanish, we say “¿Qué es?” or “¿Qué es eso?” where “eso” means “that.”

Thus, “¿Qué es eso?”  can also mean “what is that?” in Spanish.

Here are more examples:

Qué vs Cuál

“Qué” is not the only interrogative that is used to ask a question that starts with “what” in Spanish. In general, “qué” is often used with verbs as seen in the examples above. Depending on the context, “cuál” is used instead in some other cases, especially when used with nouns.

So, when to use “cuál” or “qué” to mean “what”?

First of all, “cuál” in Spanish literally means “which” or “which one.”

So, if you are asking a question that explicitly asks to choose or identify something from a larger group, you likely should use “cuál.” For example:

Sometimes the question implies choice from a group of options but doesn’t state that explicitly. For example, to say “What’s your name?” or “What’s your address?” in Spanish, we use “cuál” instead of “qué”:

In general, “qué” is often used with verbs or to ask about the essence of a noun.

On the other hand, “cuál” is preferred when precision is required in choosing between many options, even if that choice is implicit, as in “What’s your name?” (Which is your name among all the possible names?) or “What’s your address?” (Which is your address among all the possible addresses?)

Cómo

This takes us to the question: How to say what’s your name in Spanish? Perhaps one of the first you’ve learned when you started studying Spanish, that is, “¿Cómo te llamas?” which may be more familiar to you than “¿Cuál es tu nombre?”

So, what does “¿Cómo te llamas?” actually mean?

First of all, “cómo” means “how,” not “what.” And “llamas” is the second-person conjugation (“tú” form) of the verb “llamar.” The combined “te llamas” means “you call yourself.” Check the lesson on reflexive verbs and pronouns.

Therefore, “¿Cómo te llamas?” literally means “How do you call yourself?” It is not how you would say it in English, but that’s how it works in Spanish.

How to say “What’s up?” in Spanish

There are many ways to say “What’s up?” or “What’s going on?” in Spanish. These range from less formal to very informal and vary in popularity from one Spanish-speaking country to another, such as: