"Cuál de los libros prefieres" v. "Qué libro prefieres" What's the Diff??

Question

¿Cuál de los libros prefieres? v. ¿Qué libro prefieres?

I know there have been more than a few posts asking about cuál v. qué, but none of them to my mind, including the about.com website about the differences, has resolved for me whether there is any difference between the two above.

Does one mean: Which of the books do you prefer? And the other: Which book do you prefer?

Or, is their something inherently incorrect about one?

Or, is there a slightly different shade of meaning? (Native speakers?)

Thanks ahead of time for the help.

Good question,yahvey:) - viejito, Aug 8, 2012

Answer 1

I am far from an expert, so wait for verification from others, but I am pretty sure that "¿Cuál de los libros prefieres?" means "Which of the books (meaning this group of books) do you prefer" and "¿Qué libro prefieres?" is "What book do you prefer?"

I think the difference is that in the sentence with cuál, it is asking you to choose from a specific set of books, while the sentence with qué is leaving your choice open to any book in the universe.

Good answer! - Noetol, Aug 8, 2012

I hope you are right, Maxwell, as what you write maintains the difference between the two words as we are usually taught. Hoping to hear from a native speaker on this one. - yahvey_hoffman, Aug 8, 2012

Great answer! - --Mariana--, Aug 8, 2012

I spoke with two native speakers, and they agree with you. Both sentences work and are appropriate, in the appropriate situation. Thanks. - yahvey_hoffman, Aug 8, 2012

Answer 2

***Cuál and qué are both Interrogatives.

Standing alone as a subject of a verb, (qué ?) ask for a definition.

(Cuál) ask you to make a selection.***

So,

(Qué) translates to (what) and is used in requesting definitions.

¿Qué es una pistola? – What is a pistol?

¿Qué son sus padres? Son Ingleses. What are your parents? They are English.

(Cuál) may translate to (which one, which, or what) but is used in the context of selection.

¿Cuál es más caro? – Which is more expensive?

¿Cuál es la dirreción de su casa? What is your house address? (which one of all - make a choice)

(Cuál) isn’t often used before nouns....(qué...will take its place)

(Cuál) es el libro que prefieres leer? (which…which one) is the book that you prefer to read?

(Qué) …(which sometimes stands in for (Cuál)... does so because it is often used before nouns.

(Qué) libro prefieres leer? (What…as in which one) (What book do you prefer to read?

P.S.

Tamaramarie made a comment about what I said. Be sure to read her comment. It has a lot of value.

Very perceptive Tamaramarie…and thank you.

English is very much like Spanish in the use of interrogatives.

We allow ‘what’ ( mainly ask for a definition) to substitute for ‘which’ …when ‘what’ is next to a noun.

What car is your? What house is yours? What address is yours?

You are really asking “which”.

OK, viejito, so in your learned opinion, my two sentences above have no real difference? - yahvey_hoffman, Aug 8, 2012

Answer 3

In English this looks like two different ways to say the same thing. ¿Cuál de los libros prefieres? would be "Which of the books do you prefer" and ¿Qué libro prefieres? would be "What book do you prefer?" (not "which" - although I'm sure "which" is gramatically correct in English many native speakers of American English don't use the word "which" that often, especially in conversation)

I suppost this is an instance where you have to learn what sounds right in Spanish. In viejito's example, "¿Cuál es la dirreción de su casa?" is appropriate while in English we would just ask "What is your address?" We don't really view that as a selection amongst all the houses in the world (a "which" question).

IMO it's just something we have to learn. Worse case scenario is we may sound a little funny to a native speaker if we were to say "¿Qué es la dirreción de su casa?" but I'm sure we would be understood.

Actually, if you were to ask "Que es la dirrecion.." the meaning is very different in this case. Here, on this subject, the reference section and about.com has much to offer. - yahvey_hoffman, Aug 8, 2012

How so? I could see if the entire question was just "Que es la dirrecion" but I doubt someone would think you are literally asking what is an address (instead of what is your address) when it's clarified with "to your house." - tamaramarie, Aug 10, 2012

I'm not saying it's correct I'm just saying I think it would be hard to be misunderstood. - tamaramarie, Aug 10, 2012