Quién / Que / Qué / Cual... Confusion...

Question

I have two questions arising from the Pimsleur audio course that I'm currently undertaking.

Question No.1: Quién —vs— Que

When I initially began learning Spanish I would have said, for example, 'el hombre que está cantando', then after taking part in Spanisdict for a while, I would have changed my way of saying this to 'el hombre quién está cantando'. However, Pimsleur seems to indicate it should be 'que' after all.

Which is correct ? Are both correct ? Are they interchangeable in this context ?

Question No.2: Qué —vs— Cual

Pimsleur gives examples of 'cual', such as, '¿cual es el número de teléfono del médico? and '¿cual es la dirección del médico ?', which I understand. However, it them goes on to say '¿en qué calle vive el médico?'.

Why is it 'qué' here are not 'cual' ?

Any help would be appreciated...

Answer 1

Here's another link. I'm still confused, though. I used both in Spain, not always knowing which was correct, and no one looked at me in a funny way. I suspect it is very similar to what and which. Both can be used most of the time interchangeably, though it might sound awkward sometimes. "Which is the weather today?" (Actually in Scotland, that might be correct, i.e raining or not raining?)

Spanish que vs cual

Hope you don't mind...I made it clickable. :) - rac1, Mar 9, 2015

Thanks, rac. How do you do that? - Winkfish, Mar 9, 2015

When you copy the link from wherever, you click on the little globe at the top of the question box and paste it in there. You can also name it whatever you want. :) - rac1, Mar 10, 2015

Answer 2

Question number 2:

http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/que_vs_cual.htm

Qué and cuál form one of those word pairs that can be confusing to people learning Spanish, because they both are often translated as the same words into English.

The two words, when they have accents, are used aspronouns in questions to mean "what" or "which." (Without accents, they normally aren't used in questions and most often are connecting words or, technically speaking, relative pronouns, translated "which" or "that.") They can stand for either feminine or masculine objects as well as ideas or concepts. Quéis the same in the singular and plural forms; the plural of cuál is cuáles.

It is sometimes said that qué is closer to "what" in meaning, and cuál is closer to "which." But that rule isn't always reliable. Here is a guide to knowing which of the two pronouns to use:

Qué is used when asking for definitions.

• ¿Qué es una ciudad? What is a city? • ¿Qué hace un presidente? What does a president do? • ¿Qué significa "talanquera"? What does "talanquera" mean?

Qué normally is most often used before nouns (although cuál isn't necessarily incorrect and you will hear it sometimes used to mean "which"):

• ¿De qué color es la camisa? What color is the shirt? • ¿Qué casa prefieres? Which house do you prefer? • ¿Qué libro leíste? Which book did you read?

Cuál usually is used before es and other forms of ser when not seeking a definition:

• ¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? What is your phone number? • ¿Cuál es tu problema? What is your problem? • ¿Cuáles son las ciudades más grandes? What are the biggest cities?

Cuál is used to suggest a selection or choice from among a group:

• ¿Cuál miras? Which one are you looking at? But, ¿Qué miras? What are you looking at? • ¿Cuál prefieres? Which one do you prefer? But, ¿Qué prefieres? What do you prefer? • ¿Cuáles quieres? Which ones do you want? But, ¿Qué quieres? What do you want? • ¿Cuál es el más caro? Which is the most expensive? • ¿Cuáles son los más caros? Which are the most expensive?

Qué has some common idiomatic uses:

• ¿Qué hora es? What time is it? • ¡Qué lástima! What a shame! ¡Qué hermoso! How beautiful! ¡Qué día más horrible!What a horrible day! ¡Qué susto! What a fright! ¡Qué bonito! How pretty! • ¿Qué tanto? How much? • ¿Y qué? ¿Y a mí qué? So what? • ¿Para qué? ¿Por qué? Why?

Note that, with the exception of the qué exclamations, the accented forms of these words appear only in questions. Note also that it is most common to find these words at the beginning of a sentence, although qué sometimes follows de and other prepositions.

Answer 3

Which is correct ? Are both correct ? Are they interchangeable in this context ?

These words are relative pronouns, the right answer is "que", " el hombre que está cantando", because if you wanted to use quien, it should be a comma after "el hombre", so it would be : "el hombre, quien esta cantando, es un buen cantante"

Important: in this case the words "que/quien" must not have an accent mark.

Los pronombres_relativos

Why is it 'qué' here are not 'cual' ?

"en qué calle vive el médico", in this sentence you can also say "en cuál calle vive el médico" (en cuál calle entre todas las calles que haya)

There are differences between Quién and Quien, Qué and Que and between Cuál and Cual. Quién, qué and cuál are interrogative pronouns, and quien, que, and cual, relative pronouns.

espero haberte ayudado.

Hi Cokee. I hope you don't mind. I edited your post and made the link clickable. :) - rac1, Mar 10, 2015

Answer 4

Question number 1:

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/relprorev.htm

The past few lessons have covered the subject of "relative pronouns." The most common relative pronoun is "que". It can be used to refer to both persons and things, in either the subject or the object position. "Que" is the Spanish equivalent of the English words who, whom, which, and that.

El hombre que es pobre ... (person, subject) The man who is poor ... Los libros que son extensos ... (thing, subject) The books which are long ... La señorita que conocí ... (person, object) The young lady whom I met ... La carta que leiste ... (thing, object) The letter that you read ...

The relative pronoun "quien" is used only to refer to people, and has a plural form "quienes". (There is no masculine/feminine distinction.)

Mi tío, quien es profesor, viene a visitarme hoy día. My uncle, who is a professor, is coming to visit me today.

When the relative pronoun refers to a person and is in the direct object position, either "que" or "a quien" may be used. Each is correct. Notice that the "personal a" is used with "quien" but in not use with "que".

La señorita que conocí anoche es la hermana de Raquel. La señorita a quien conocí anoche es la hermana de Raquel. The young lady whom I met last night is Raquel's sister.

When the relative pronoun refers to a person and occurs after a preposition, "quien" must be used. After a preposition, "que" is only used to refer to things.

Los chicos, con quienes fuimos a la playa, son nuestros amigos. The boys, with whom we went to the beach, are our friends. El libro en que pienso es extenso, no es corto. The book I'm thinking of is long, not short.

What I see:

Subject of the clause- que

DO of clause, no preposition- a quien or que

Preposition required (object of preposition)- quien

I think I have seen these rules broken, but these are what I believe to be classic teaching.