Word order in questions with "Va a"

Question

I know that when asking a question in Spanish the noun usually follows the verb:

¿Llegó el tren tarde? Did the train arrive late?

But I've seen so many different versions of word ordering when the question contains "va a":

¿Va a llegar tarde el tren? ¿Va a llegar el tren tarde? ¿Va a el tren llegar tarde? ¿El tren va a llegar tarde?

Is the second option generally the preferred one, seeing as it follows the "main verb then noun" rule?

Answer 1

This word order depends on the emphasis desired by the speaker, in this case tarde or el tren being the stressed point, which determines the preferrence. I don´t know of any rule for this word order as Spanish is very flexible with this.

Your first example emphasizes el tren, the second example emphasizes tarde. The third is incorrect. The last example is probably the least used and would occur if someone questions something previously spoken by repeating it but in question form.

Thanks, very helpful. :) - bosquederoble, Mar 19, 2017

Thanks a lot for the thorough answer! Guess there is no "one size fits all" - krigar, Mar 19, 2017

Answer 2

Va a el tren llegar tarde? Is not correct. The others are.