qué

Qué is a Spanish word that functions primarily as an interrogative and exclamative pronoun, and as a determiner in emphatic phrases. It asks for identification or specification of something in direct questions such as “¿Qué quieres?” and in indirect questions like “No sé qué quieres.” It also appears in exclamations and strong statements, for example “¡Qué bien!” or “Qué día tan bonito.” As a determiner in exclamative constructions, qué can precede a noun, as in “Qué hora tan tarde” or “Qué piso tan limpio.” In these uses, qué is invariable; it has no gender or number.

Orthography and pronunciation: qué is written with an acute accent on the final vowel and pronounced [ke]. The accent marks its interrogative or exclamative function and distinguishes it from the conjunction que meaning “that” or “which” in subordinate clauses, e.g., “dijo que vendría.” The distinction is orthographic rather than phonetic in Standard Spanish.

Etymology and grammar: qué descends from Latin quid. It belongs to a set of interrogatives and exclamatives that retain the accent in Spanish. In other languages, the equivalent word is spelled differently (for example, Portuguese que). In Spanish, qué is also used in common phrases like qué tal, qué pasa, qué hora es, and qué significa.

Notes on usage: in indirect questions, the accent is preserved (No sé qué quieres). For relative clauses, Spanish uses lo que or a different structure rather than bare qué.