Hello my friends from SpanishPod101.com. My name is Diego. |
And I’m Efraín. |
And in this video, we’re going to share a very interesting topic and this topic is the difference between qué and cuál. So, enjoy this video! |
Woah! |
Okay, guys. So the words qué and cuál could be seen as linking verbs, that is relative pronouns. So, in this case, the words que and cual are without the accent mark. However, the words can also be seen as interrogative words. In such case, the words qué and cuál have an accent mark. |
So, in this video, we’re going to focus rather on the, on the interrogative words and why? Because in English, you can normally translate the word qué as “what” and the word cuál as “which.” However, the difference is not that simple because there are some situations that both of them can be used, but there are also other situations where one is meant to be used over the other. So, we’re going to see those situations in this video. |
Let’s start with the first one. |
Okay, the first one is that you can use qué or cuál in order “to suggest a choice within a group,” okay? And the structure for cuál will be this, (¿cuál + verb/preposition), but bear this in mind, the preposition will usually be the word “de,” okay? |
For example: |
Diego ¿cuál de estas tres ciudades es tu favorita? |
Monterrey, Guadalajara o Ciudad de México. |
Definitivamente mi ciudad favorita es Ciudad de México. |
Muy bien ay, este, otro ejemplo. |
Diego, ¿cuál de estos colores es tu favorito? |
El rosa, el azul o el naranja. |
Yo creo que el rosa. |
El rosa. |
Okay. Let’s continue. |
For qué, the structure will be this, (¿qué + noun), okay? |
So you can say: |
Diego ¿qué ciudad es tu favorita? |
Guadalajara, Ciudad de México o Monterrey. |
Ciudad de México. |
Muy bien. |
And they mean the same. They have the same meaning. |
Once again: |
Diego ¿qué color es tu favorito? |
El rosa por supuesto. |
Okay, guys. So the next situation is that you can use the word qué or cuál plus a verb “to express a preference.” And we have certain verbs that express preferences of something. We’re going to tell you four of these verbs. |
Number 1, you can use the verb gustar. |
Number 2, of course, the verb preferir. |
Number 3, you can also use the verb querer. |
And finally, you can use the verb desear. |
These four verbs could be used with this form which is (qué + verb) or (cuál + verb). |
Let’s see some examples of it. |
So I can ask Efraín: |
Efraín ¿qué prefieres? La comida mexicana o la comida china. |
La mexicana. |
Perfecto. |
I can also ask Efraín: |
Efraín ¿qué te gustaría comprar? |
Una computadora. |
Bien, perfecto. |
Now, let’s imagine this last situation. I can ask Efraín, imagine that we have here a set of, of options of computers, and I can ask Efraín: |
Efraín ¿cuál te gustaría comprar? |
Una Macbook. |
Good, good. Now, imagine the former situation when, when I asked Efraín qué prefier. So, I’m hungry and here we have, we have the option of comida china, comida mexicana, comida indú o comida rusa, blah, blah, blah. So I can ask Efraín… |
Efraín ¿cuál prefieres? |
La comida Rusa. |
Good. |
So, you see, here we have two different ways for asking for the same which is a preference of something. Now, bear in mind this, qué is going to be used when you want general information about, about something, and cuál is when you have a special set that you can see, you have it in front of you, but at the end, the result is the same. |
Good, okay. |
So the next one is, you use qué in order to ask for definitions or in order to get, to get an explanation of something. |
For example: |
Diego ¿qué es el amaranto? |
El amaranto, no tengo idea. |
Okay, we have this explanation of amaranto in another video. |
In another video. |
Yeah. |
Okay. |
Okay. |
Diego ¿qué hace un abogado? |
OK. Un abogado defiende a un culpable en un juicio. |
Bien. |
Diego ¿qué es esto? |
Eso es amaranto, es una alegría, hecha de amaranto. |
So, well that’s it. Okay, guys. |
Okay, guys. So the next one is when you use the verb qué plus a verb in the conditional tense. Now, you cannot use cuál with the conditional tense. So, let’s see one example. Remember that the conditional tense is with the ending “-ía.” |
So let’s see one example: |
Efraín mañana tengo una entrevista de trabajo y no sé, y no sé cómo vestirme, ¿tú qué te pondrías? |
Definitivamente me pondría una linda camisa, una corbata delgada, y un pantalón de vestir que me quede bien y a la medida. |
Perfecto. |
So now, bear in mind this, as we previously said in this, you can also use cuál as long as you use the preposition de. So, if you paid close attention to the, to our previous example, you can see that I can also tell Efraín, Efraín that he already has a set of options of different clothes. |
So I can ask Efraín: |
Efraín aquí tengo algunas opciones ¿cuál de estas opciones te podrías? |
La opción número dos. |
Good. Well, I don’t know which one is that, but it looks nice. |
Okay. The next one, you can use this structure, (¿cuál + verb?) in order to ask or to, to ask for general information. |
Okay, for example: |
Diego ¿cuál es tu número de celular? |
Mi número de celular es 55 27 23 44 and I will hide the two last digits, 90. |
Why? |
Okay, so… |
No, no, no, the next one. |
¿Cuál es tu número favorito? |
Mi número favorito es el siete. |
Nice. Remember, it is the same when you use (qué + noun), okay? |
And with this example: |
¿Qué número es tu favorito? |
Mi número favorito es siete. |
¿Cuál es tu número favorito? |
Siete. |
¿Qué es tu número favorito? |
Siete. |
¿Cuál es… |
Siete. |
That’s it for today friends of SpanishPod101.com. We hope that you have enjoyed this video. Please share this video with other learners. And if you like this video, write your comments down below and like this one, follow this channel, SpanishPod101.com, of course, and see you in our next video. |
See you guys! |
¡Hasta luego! |
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