Position of pronoun

Question

Which of these two sentences is correct, or is either one acceptable. " Que' esta' ella comienado?" or " Que' esta' comiendo ella?

Answer 1

I would prefer the second one. But I don't know if the first option is incorrect, to me, it's strange, and I think it's incorrect. A Spaniard would understand, surely. But you don't need to use 'ella'. You can simply say - 'Qué está comiendo' - and it would be ok.

The first one - 'Qué está ella comiendo' - seems to me like you've translated it literally from english, word by word - 'What is she eating'. But every language is different, so you must take it into account, and never translate everything literally. Like for example 'Cómo te llamas' - 'how do you call yourself' - no, 'what's your name' - yes.

Answer 2

I think you want to say: What is she eating?

The translator at studyspanish.com translates this as:

¿Qué está comiendo?

This leaves "ella" out of the sentence completely, as is typical when speaking Spanish. The word está implies he/she/it and generally, the listener would know that you are speaking of "she" because you're probably looking at her or possibly pointing at her.

I also checked to see how the translator would translate your sentences:

• ¿Qué está ella comiendo? translates to What is she eating?
• ¿Qué está comiendo ella? translates to What are you eating it?

and, one possibility you ddn't mention:

• ¿Qué ella está comiendo? translates to What is she eating?

Of course, machine translators don't always "get it right", but often for simple sentences they do. In this case, it seems like your second possibility may not be right.

Answer 3

¿Qué está comiendo ella? is correct, but as Sinedd, I am not sure about the first one, I mean, I would never say something like that but grammatically I don't know if it is correct.

Answer 4

" Que esta ella comiendo?"

OR "Que esta comiendo ella?"

Are both correct but "Que esta comiendo ella is better!