When to use cual instead of qué?

Lesley W.A1Kwiziq community member

When to use cual instead of qué?

Asked 5 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in Kwiziq

Hola Lesley

Here is a lesson on cuál/cuáles that will help you.

Using cuál/cuáles = which/what in Spanish (interrogative pronouns)

Qué can be followed by a noun but cuál cannot, In Peninsular Spanish. For example:

¿Qué casa prefieres? (Which house do you prefer?)

Using cuál in this sentence would be wrong: ¿Cuál casa prefieres?

We use cuál as which or which one when we are choosing from a group:

¿Cuál de estos te gusta más? Which of of these do you like the most?

If the options have already been given, for example in this dialogue:

A.  Aquí hay dos vestidos muy bonitos, uno negro y otro rojo.

B. Sí, son bonitos. ¿Tú cuál prefieres?

I hope this clarifies it a bit.

We will make a lesson to help differentiate qué and cuál soon.

Saludos

Inma

When to use cual instead of qué?

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