Clase o tipo?

Question

When I was in Aragón, I was at a small restaurant on the outskirts of Zaragoza. I was with a small number of friends, and I was really enjoying the cheese I was being served. I tried to ask the waiter "Que tipo de queso es este?", and he corrected me, asking me if I meant "Que clase de queso es este?"

Would I use this wording for all things? For instance, If I am asking which types of Gin a bar has, would I ask "Que clases de ginebra teneís"? Or would I use tipo in some circumstances, and clase in others?

If it helps or is relevant, I'm trying to learn Spain Spanish, rather than South American Spanish. - Marcownz747, Jul 3, 2011

Answer 1

They seem synonymous to Google

Answer 2

"Que tipo de queso es este?" sounds well for me. May be when he said "Qué clase de..." he was formulating his answer and it was an unconscious way to gain time. We all do that sometimes

By the way, I'm from Argentina, I don't know if in Spain there's a difference, for that case, between "clase" and "tipo", but I don't think so.

sounds fine to me OR sounds good to me - webdunce, Jul 4, 2011

Maybe (una palabra) significa "tal vez" ... may be (dos palabras) es más bien "puede ser" (y se usa en muchos modismos también). - webdunce, Jul 4, 2011

The single word "maybe" is roughly equal to saying "it may be that..." - webdunce, Jul 4, 2011

Thanks, I always get confused with "well" and "fine". "may be" and "maybe", I'll remeber it, gracias de nuevo ! - ale_rd, Jul 4, 2011

Answer 3

For gin, I would use "marcas" unless I wanted to know if they had sloe gin.

Love your puns! - territurtle, Jul 4, 2011

Answer 4

From the dictionary here....

clase

toda clase de -> all sorts o kinds of ;

tipo

todo tipo, -a de -> all sorts of

I have been corrected for this as well (in Colombian Spanish, if that is important, jaja). If in English you're wanting to ask "what kind, usually you'd use clase in Spanish. But then, that's just my understanding of things.

Answer 5

In my brief research, it seems to be that "tipo" is used when looking at "what kind" or the "sort" of something. Not to say that "clase" isn't a "type or sort" but it seems to be used with a postion (middle class---clase media or a social class---clase social or first clase----primera clase). I hope this at least gets the ball rolling. The gurus will weigh in soon, I hope!!

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer. I know this much in regards to clase vs tipo, but as I heard this odd (in my mind) use of the word "Clase" by an Aragonese man... I figured I might be missing something in "gringo" language blind spots. - Marcownz747, Jul 3, 2011

Not that I'm aware of...it may be as simple as a regional thing...like dialect... :) I definitely wanted to get the ball rolling for you!! :) - Jason7R, Jul 3, 2011