Using Accents in Question Words

Question

¡Hola! When asking a question in Spanish, sometimes you use i.e. "Que". My teacher marks me off sometimes, and he says that I must use an accent mark, "Qué". Why is that? When do you use the accent and when do you not? Thanks!

Good question and you received good answers which should be given votes. - kirk1, Apr 5, 2013

Answer 1

Add the tilde:

WHen used as an interrogative pronoun:

¿Qué quieres?

When used as an exclamative pronoun:

¡Qué calor!

¡Qué sabrosa que está esta malteada!

Answer 2

The mark it's used when you're using "que" as a question word, but if you're using "que", as "who" i.e: ¿qué haces? = what are you doing. / "maría, que vino a verte, se fué = María, who came here to see you, already left.

Answer 3

Some examples:

Mi hermana, que vive allí, dice que es precioso.

My sister, who lives there, says that it’s lovely.

Dime de qué va la película.

Tell me what the film’s about.

Tengo que dar una charla. — ¿Sobre qué? ‘

I’ve got to give a talk.’ - ‘What on?’