Question about "que" and "cual"

Question

When & why do you use one or the other? They seem to mean the same thing

that which - epicfail, Jul 16, 2010

Answer 1

Hola,

Jsanthara's link is very good, but, if you are as new to learning Spanish as you seem to be, by some of the questions you have posted,then it may be a little difficult for you.

Your confusion may lie in the fact that both words are sometimes translated as what.

¿Cuál es tu nombre? What is your name? or ¿Qué hora es? What time is it?

Of all the names that could be yours, which one is yours? ¿Cuál es tu nombre? "Which" is your name? Even when cual is translated to that or who it, usually can still be brought back to which.

The words that describe time are repeated every 12 (or 24) hours, but, now only happens once in all of history. ¿Qué hora es? "What" time is it?

This is not a complete answer,but should get you started.

"as new" - peregrinamaria, Jul 16, 2010

Something every language learner must realize,myself included,is that one's native tounge is not the center of the linguistic universe. - canicos, Jul 16, 2010

Spanish,as English,is a complete language and neither needs the other to explain it. - canicos, Jul 16, 2010

Ay! I knew something didn't look right about that. te-he- Thanks peregrinamar- fixed it. - canicos, Jul 16, 2010

Answer 2

Please refer to this reference article on the subject.

Except that that article is on Qué and Cuál; not que and cual - 0074b507, Jul 16, 2010

I thought that was what he was asking for, and left out the accent marks. My mistake. - Jsanthara, Jul 16, 2010

your assumption was probably valid. - 0074b507, Jul 16, 2010

Answer 3

Also look at Spanish Grammar in the SpanishDict reference section, it's a one stop article for everything. What a great site!

Just paste this in your browser and save it to favorites http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100001/spanish-grammar

buen día