¿de qué?
/de ˈke/word by word
The Spanish way to say "what about?" is ¿de qué?
This phrase is used to ask for the subject or topic of a conversation or a specific thing.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is a literal combination of the preposition de (of/about) and the interrogative pronoun qué (what).
Which one should you use?
While ¿de qué? asks for the subject matter, ¿Qué tal? is used to ask "How about…?" when suggesting a plan or asking how something is going.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In some Latin American countries, people may use ¿Y qué hay de…? instead of ¿Y qué me dices de…?
How do you pronounce it?
/de ˈke/
What mistakes should you avoid?
Avoid using just ¿Qué? to mean "What about [a topic]?", as English speakers often make this error. In Spanish, ¿Qué? alone usually functions as a general "What?" or a request for someone to repeat something.
Did you know?
- The word qué is a direct descendant of the Latin quid, which was so common in Roman law and philosophy that it became a root for the English word 'quid pro quo'.
- In a very informal context, a Spanish speaker might skip the preposition entirely and just say ¿Y el…? to mean 'And what about the…?' when referring to a specific object or person.
- Because de is a preposition, it is a strict rule in Spanish that you cannot leave it hanging at the end of a sentence, a structure that is common in many English phrasal verbs.
Sources
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (de, qué) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, qué, CC BY-SA 4.0.
