|
Forming Questions |
Asking Questions
In this Sample Lesson you will learn to ask questions. It is similar to English with a
slight change of word order for some cases. Let us look at a few examples.
- ¿Habla Elena inglés? - Does Elena speak English?
- ¿Limpió Jorge el baño? - Did Jorge clean the bathroom?
- ¿Cuándo habla Jorge español? - When does Jorge speak Spanish?
Sentence (1) in English is a basic question. You have the person who does the action (Elena) followed
by the action word (speak). The Spanish version has the action word first (habla) followed
by the person who acts (Elena). Compare sentences (1) and (2). Again in sentence (2) in Spanish, you have the action word first
then the person who acts. However notice that both sentences (1) and (2) in English have words at the beginning
that do not seem to appear in Spanish (does, did). These words simply tell you when the action happens, now or in the past.
You will never have to translate these kinds of words into Spanish because this information is included in the action words (habla, limpió).
For these types of questions, you simply have to remember to reverse the person-action (Elena speaks) to action-person (habla Elena).
The end of the English sentence (inglés, español) remains at the end for Spanish.
Sentence (3) is slightly different. You notice that there is a question word at the beginning (cuándo - when).
Along with inserting the question word you also reverse the person-action (Jorge speaks) to action-person (habla Jorge) as before.
The 3 sentences above illustrate the basic structure for forming questions.
Now you are ready to form your own. The Table
below includes basic question words. By putting these at the beginning, and remembering
the order person who acts + action word, you can form simple questions.
Review the Table, then complete the Sample Quiz.
|
English
| Spanish
|
QUESTION WORDS
- who?
- what?
- where?
- when?
- why?
- how?
- what time is it?
ACTION WORDS / PHRASES
- you are doing
- it is, is
- she works
- you arrive late
- they are coming
- he is going
- it's 3:00
| QUESTION WORDS
¿quién - quiénes?
¿qué?
¿dónde?
¿cuándo?
¿por qué?
¿cómo?
¿Qué hora es?
ACTION WORDS / PHRASES
haces
es
trabaja
llegas tarde
vienen
va
son las tres
|
...top
...top
|