El uso de "por qué"

Question

Hola,

Estoy confundido de hacer preguntas con "por qué." ¿Cuál de las oraciones suena mejor? En la escuela, aprendí que el sujeto viene directamente después del verbo, pero he escuchado muchas cosas diferentes.

1. ¿Está María cansada?
2. ¿María está cansada?
3. ¿Está cansada María?

Corrija mi español, por favor.

Gracias

Answer 1

The 3 are ok. We sometimes watch TV programs coming from Miami, where there are people from all Latin America and especially from Cuba and other countries from Central America that I cannot recognize exactly.
They use a special construction for questions that is easily understandable but is strange for people elsewhere. Programs like "El Show de Cristina", "Don Francisco" and many more like the one that is presented by Dra. Ana María Polo etc.
For example:

¿Qué tu dices?
¿Qué tu piensas de esas cosas? etc

In Spain and other regions of Latin America we don't use this construction although it's very easy to understand. We would say:

¿Qué piensas tú de esas cosas?
¿Qué dices tú?

I would appreciate if someone else could confirm this.

"¿Qué tú.+ verbo?" is very common with the Cubans that I know. - DonBigoteDeLaLancha, Jun 18, 2017

Yes, when we hear it, it sounds very "Caribbean" or let's say it stands out. At least you have heard it too. - polenta1, Jun 18, 2017

Answer 2

Usually it is a matter of what you are trying to emphasize. Think of what you could be asking in English. Is Mary tired? (I thought that she would be too excited to be tired). Is Mary tired? (Isn't that true? She looks exhausted.) Is Mary tired? (Is Mary the one that is tired). However, which one asks which question is not written in stone. It may be a matter of how you stress the words (intonation). Sentence two has a concordance error.

Answer 3

¿Está María cansada? ¿María está cansado? ¿Está cansada María?

"¿Por qué (tu frase)?"

Las tres son correctas, pero la tercera es más usada y suena mejor.