Question words
1. By now we have learnt how to ask a number questions. Here are some of these questions.
 Listen |
 Listen |
Como é o seu nome? = What is your name?
Como se escreve? = How do you write it?
| Listen |
Listen |
Qual é o seu nome? = What is your name?
Qual é o seu trabalho? = What is your job?
Qual é o seu número de telefone? = What is your telephone number?
Qual é o seu email? = What is your email?
| Listen |
Listen |
O que você faz? = What do you do?
Que país é este? = What country is this?
| Listen |
Listen |
Quem é esta? = Who is this? (female person)
Quem é ela? = Who is she?
| Listen |
Listen |
De onde você é? = Where are you from?
De quem é este cão? = Whose is this dog?
2. O que or que?
Que usually means ‘what’ and qual usually means ‘which’. Sometimes qual is translated as ‘what’.
Example: Qual é o seu nome? = What is your name?
When do we use o que and que ?
This is flexible and you can use only que anytime. But some speakers may feel that not using o que is incorrect. Here is some guidance:
| o que / que | syntax |
|---|---|
| O que você faz? | O que + pronoun / verb * |
| Que país é este? | Que + noun |
* There are exceptions. However, the above covers most of this issue.
Foundations of Portuguese for Global Communication
Foundations of Portuguese for Global Communication
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