simple que versus cual question

backwaterdogs:

Hello,

I am helping my son who is struggling with Spanish in high school...he has a personal tutor now and recently got a B on a homework assignmet that the tutor went over with him.

A few quesitons were marked wrong that I think should be correct, can someone please check?

One was where he was suppose to choose the correct word between Cual and Que. The english sentence was give: "Which hat do you prefer?"....then he was to choose given the Spanish sentence...." ?(Cual, Que) sombrero prefiere Vd.?" by circling the correct one.

He circled Cual.... to ask which...which from a finite number of hats one would have, do you prefer, but this was marked wrong.

From my very little understanding...is cual correct in this context?

thanks!

Primer Mensaje01

Anonymous:

Cuál is rarely used directly before a noun, so in this case, "¿Qué sombrero prefiere usted?" is prefered.
"¿Cuál de los sombreros prefiere usted?" (which of the hats) or "¿Cuál prefiere usted?" (with the "of" implied) are other ways of phrasing it.

I'm only a beginner myself, this is from my textbook. Hope it helps, though!

Sanz:

When you know what kind of hats you're talking about or they're in front of you then is better ¿cuál...?, hower ¿qué...? is very common too, so both ways can be used in such situation, many times only depends on the way the speaker prefer or like to use.
The answer could be wrong if your son chose the form cual without accent, instead of cuál.

Miembro Avanzado2,951

Anonymous:

Although he was correct in that cual means "which", "que", when followed by a noun, means "which"

QazBomber:

AnonymousAlthough he was correct in that cual means "which", "qué", when followed by a noun, means "which".

Miembro Pleno613

simple que versus cual question

Asuntos relacionados: