Severn Spanish

Questions I: Structure

 

Introduction

Asking questions is a fundamental part of being able to converse in a language. This section will walk you through the basics of forming a question properly in Spanish. In order to understand this is fully as possible, make sure you are comfortable with the subject pronouns, the conjugations of all regular verbs in the present tense, and the conjugations of ir in the present tense. This section does not cover the use of special question words, such as "who," "what," and "why." Those can be found in Questions I/II: Question words. Tips on answering questions can be found under Questions I/II: Responding.

 

Word Order

Questions are slightly different from statements in Spanish with respect to the order of the subject and verb. In a statement, you usually place the subject before the verb:

Yo corro. (I run.)

In a question, this order is flipped. The verb now comes before the subject. This also holds true for compound tenses, such as the phrasal future and the present progressive.

Examples:

¿Corres tú? (Do you run?)

¿Va a terminar la clase? (Is class going to end?)

¿Estás estudiando tú para el examen? (Are you studying for the test?)

¿Baila ella? (Does she dance?)

 

Implied Subjects

In Spanish, because the conjugation endings are so specific to certain subject pronouns, it is usually possible to determine the subject of a verb based on context and conjugation.

Examples:

Vas al banco. (This sentence can only mean “You go to the bank,” even though there is no subject pronoun at all.)

This technique is super common in questions, too.

Examples:

¿Vas a la fiesta? (“Are you going to the party?” or “You are going to the party?”)

¿Tenemos tarea? (“Do we have homework?” or “We have homework?”)

¿Soy bajo? (“Am I short?” or “I’m short?”)

Although some conjugations could have more than one subject, context usually makes the meaning clear.

Examples:

Marco: María está enferma. (Maria is sick.)

José: ¿Va a ir al doctor? (Is she going to go to the doctor?)