Qué va - What Does It Mean?
Does anyone know what "Qué va" means? I translated it and it literally means, "What goes," but I would like to know what it actually means in the context of a conversation. I see it used a lot in The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
At first, I thought qué va, was another way of saying "What's up?" Like how people say, "¿Qué pasa?", "¿Qué tal?", or "¿Que onda?" but there is no question marks used for Qué va.
Example:
"Qué va," the boy said. "There are many good fisherman and some great ones. But there is only you." - The Old Man and The Sea
9 Answers
It can mean, no way, of course not or come on! As if you don't believe what you're hearing 
Can also mean, as far as I know: "Are you kidding?"/Yeah, right" expressed in a somewhat sarcastic tone.
The meaning, in context, is "no way". It is a statement made by said character to show disbelief. While the literal meaning has no sense, it is more a colloquialism.If you look at in it context, and replace the words Que va with No way, it will make more sense. This goes for all of its uses in the book.
Hope I helped, N
Everyone quotes that book when they ask this. In that book it means "no way" but it doesn't usually mean that.
¡Qué va! in this context is very similar to "¡Órale!" It´s just a way of expressing an emotion. Javier Solís used to say this quite often between verses in his songs.
I would say ¡qué va! means something like "nonsense" or "don't be stupid"
Qué va: It can mean something like "damn it". But I think in this case it means something like "No way", more context would help
Appreciate it rpem. Here's another example I found.
The old man went out the door and the boy came after him. He was sleepy and the old man put his arm across his shoulders and said, "I am sorry."
"Qué va," the boy said. "It is what a man must do."
Appreciate the feedback. ¡Muchas gracias!
