"What Are You Doing?" in Spanish

Quick Answer

What are you doing? in Spanish can be ¿Qué estás haciendo?, ¿Qué está haciendo?, ¿Qué están haciendo?or ¿Qué estáis haciendo?depending on the number of people you’re talking to and the degree of formality, as well as the region. Read on to learn how to say What are you doing? in Spanish.

what are you doing

Tú vs. Vos vs. Usted vs. Ustedes vs. Vosotros

You may be used to address one person or multiple people in a formal or an informal context. When translated into Spanish, it adopts different forms depending on how many people you’re talking to, the degree of formality, and the region. Look at the chart below to find out which form you need to use to ask What are you doing?

Spanish	Number of People	Degree of Formality	Used with	Region
¿Qué estás haciendo?	one (singular)	informal	a single person who is the same age as you or younger	Latin America and Spain
¿Qué está haciendo?	one (singular)	formal	a single person who is older than you or to whom you want to show respect	Latin America and Spain
¿Qué estáis haciendo?	more than one (plural)	informal	multiple people who are the same age as you or younger	Spain
¿Qué están haciendo?	more than one (plural)	informal or formal	multiple people	Latin America
¿Qué están haciendo?	more than one (plural)	formal	multiple people who are older than you or to whom you want to show respect	Spain

Take a look at some examples below:

examples
¿Qué estás haciendo? - Estoy estudiando. Mañana tengo examen. What are you doing? - I’m studying. I have a test tomorrow.
¿Qué está haciendo, señor? No puede estacionar aquí. What are you doing, sir? You can't park here.
¿Qué están haciendo, chicas? - Estamos ensayando para el recital de mañana. What are you doing, girls? - We’re rehearsing for tomorrow’s concert.
¿Qué estáis haciendo, amigos? - Viendo un partido de fútbol. What are you doing, guys? - Watching a soccer game.

Looking for more on the different ways to say you in Spanish? Check out our article here!

Present Progressive and Present Simple

In Spanish, as in English, the present progressive is used to talk about what a subject is doing right now. However, it is also possible to use the simple present to talk about what a subject is doing at this moment in Spanish. Have a look at the examples below.

Tense	Example	English Translation
Present Simple	¿Qué haces?	What are you doing?
Present Progressive	¿Qué estás haciendo?	What are you doing?

Take a look at the different ways to use the simple present to ask What are you doing? in Spanish in the table below!

Spanish	Number of People	Degree of Formality	Used with	Region
¿Qué haces?	one (singular)	informal	a single person who is the same age as you or younger	Latin America and Spain
¿Qué hacés?	one (singular)	informal	a single person who is the same age as you or younger	parts of Latin America, such as Argentina and Central America
¿Qué hace?	one (singular)	formal	a single person who is older than you or to whom you want to show respect	Latin America and Spain
¿Qué hacéis?	more than one (plural)	informal	multiple people who are the same age as you or younger	Spain
¿Qué hacen?	more than one (plural)	informal or formal	multiple people	Latin America
¿Qué hacen?	more than one (plural)	formal	multiple people who are older than you or to whom you want to show respect	Spain