Asking "Why" in Spanish

Learn how to ask "Why?"

Also Appears In: Ultimate Video Getting Started Spanish in 3-Minute Videos

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Hola a todos! Soy Lucia. Hi everybody! I’m Lucia.

Welcome to SpanishPod101.com’s Español en tres minutos. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Spanish.

In the last lesson, we learned how to ask "Who" questions in Spanish.

This time, we are going to ask "Why" questions.

Imagine your boss is giving you a call because you are not at work today... He could ask you, ¿Por qué no has venido al trabajo?

[slowly] ¿Por qué no has venido al trabajo?

So let’s break down this question.

First we had-

Por qué, which is the basic translation of "Why".

no has venido is the 2nd person singular of the verb venir in the present perfect negative form.

And Al trabajo is "to work"

¿Por qué no has venido al trabajo?

So in Spanish, Por qué is the exact translation of "Why", used to ask the reason for something.

So for example, if your boss is asking you "Why are you late?" he will ask you, ¿Por qué llegas tarde?

And that's it! Now you are able to ask all the basic questions in Spanish!

Now it's time for Lucia's Insights

A famous expression in Perú is ¿Por qué no? which means, as in English, "Why not?"

You can use it to accept a request if you aren't very excited about it. Or, if it was not planned in advance.

For example if a friend asks you suddenly "How about we go to the movies tonight?"

You can answer ¿Por qué no? "Why not?"

This is the last lesson of this Absolute Beginner video series.

But it’s hopefully not the last you learn about the Spanish language! To take your language ability to the next level, check out SpanishPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Spanish.

Gracias por estudiar con nosotros.

Thanks for learning with us!

Adiós!!

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