"Qué no?" vs. Por qué no?"
Can any native Spanish speaker tell me the difference.
I've heard people say "qué no" like, "right?" or "is it not?" or "don't you agree?"
Like, that was an awesome movie, "qué no?"
I haven't heard "por qué no?" but someone corrected me the other day so I was wondering if I sounded like a complete moron or what.
12 Answers
I hear "que no" all the time in my neighborhood in the way that Ocbizlaw mentioned somewhere in here. It is an idiomatic expression used in exactly the same way as one might say in English to another person as an exclamation and rhetorical question:
"That's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Eso es hermosa, que no?"
But this usage is one I grew up with here in the U.S. in Latino communities. I cannot say if it is grammatically correct or not.
Here is a site that is talking about que no in the way I had heard it used
And in the Denzel Washington movie training day, one of the characters says to another: "Life's a trip, ¿Que no?"
Maybe the context would help. Someone said to me something like: "this is really good soup, qué no.
But then, in a similar context, I said "we you know this has happened many time before, qué no?
Por que no makes no sense to me there but now I don't know if "qué no" means what I think it means.
Hate to prolong this but I used to have a girlfriend from France and she would use "n'est-ce pas?" in the same way that I was using que no or qué no.
She used it like That was a great movie, "n'est-ce pas?" Like we say in English: wasn't it? or "right?" or "don't you agree?"
The British say, this is a lovely room, isn't it?
Jeezz: that a movie sucks is not a good thing, of course, but that does not turn your sentence into negative.
Your sentence:
That movie SUCKED
is affirmative, and as such:
That movie SUCKED don't you think so too = Esa película fue terrible, a que no? ---- Never Always "a que sí"
But that movie RULED don't you think so too = Esa película fue increíble, a que sí?
Sí.
Jeezz: I think you are wrong.
that was an awesome movie, "a que sí?" = wasn't it? = you think so too right?
but....
Like, that was an awesome movie, "a que no?" =
¿a que no? can only be used in negative sentences:
Like, that wasn't an awesome movie, "a que no?" =was it? = or do you think I'm wrong and you didn't like it?
Vas a ir ¿a que sí?
No vas a ir ¿a que no?
Hi, ocbizlaw!
I'm not sure that I understand very well your question.
¿Por qué no? means Why not?
I'm not used to that "¿Qué no?" at the end of a question. Are you sure it has a tilde? I'm saying this because ¿Qué no? and ¿que no? sound totally different.
At the end of questions, we say:
¡Qué peli tan buena!, ¿verdad?
¡Qué peli tan buena! ¿no?
¡Qué peli tan buena! ¿a que sí?
¡Qué peli tan buena! ¿o no?
We also say:
¡Que no! = I said no!
¿que no? = don't you believe it? (Voy a comerme una pizza entera... ¿que no? ¡Ya lo verás!)
and ¿a que no? = You didn't like it, did you?
But... ¿Qué no? I wouldn't know how to understand it.
@ Cogu.... Ok so it's not positive or negative but like this:
Esa película fue terrible / increíble, you AGREE = a que sí,
Esa película fue terrible / increíble, you DISAGREE does NOT = a que no, it can't be used like that.
Esa película no fue tan mala - a que no? This movie was NOT bad, is this right? Gracias.
No fue terrible esa película / Esa película no fue terrible = a que no? Becuase it has no in it? But it's still about agreement.
@ cogu, so "that was GOOD.......something" = "A que sí" and NEVER a que no but that was BAD........something = a que no and never a que sí.
So That movie SUCKED don't you think so too = Esa película fue terrible, a que no? ---- Never "a que sí" here right>?
But that movie RULED don't you think so too = Esa película fue increíble, a que sí?
and they can NEVER be switched out..... Good thing, you think so too = a que sí. Bad thing, you think so too = a que no.
So they BOTH just mean don't you think so too, but one is for positive and one for negative?........
Gracias.
To me "A que no?" and "A que sí" differ like this:
Like, that was an awesome movie, "a que sí?" = you think so too right?
Like, that was an awesome movie, "a que no?" = or do you think I'm wrong and you didn't like it?
This is how I've heard it but if anyone thinks it's wrong I'd love to hear it.
Hmmmm......"por qué no?" definitely means "Why not?" and with such different meanings, there should be no confusion between the two phrases. Nope, definitely not sounding like a moron, but I'm not a native speaker so I await other replies with interest.
good job
