qué día
/ke dia/from spelling rules
The English phrase "what day" is translated into Spanish as qué día.
qué día is a question used to ask for either the day of the week, such as Monday or the specific date, such as the 5th of the month.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of qué (what) and día (day).
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Argentina, people may colloquially say ¿Che, qué día es hoy? In Mexico, it is common to use the phrasing ¿En qué día estamos? to mean "What day are we in?"
How does it change in a sentence?
The word qué must carry an accent mark to function as an interrogative pronoun in a question.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use cuál día instead of qué día when asking for the date or day of the week.
Did you know?
- Although the English word 'day' and the Spanish word día look similar, they are not related. The Spanish word traces back to a root meaning 'heaven' or 'sky', whereas 'day' comes from a completely different linguistic lineage.
- Because día is a masculine noun, it remains el día even though it ends in the letter a, which usually indicates a feminine noun.
Examples in context
- ¿Qué día es hoy?What day is it today?This sentence is useful for asking what day it is today using qué día.Tatoeba #937547 by Shishir, translation #476431 by minshirui
- ¿Sabes qué día es?Do you know what day it is?This sentence is useful for asking a friend if they know the date using qué día.Tatoeba #1976550 by Shishir, translation #24597 by CK
- ¿Qué día fue ayer?What day was yesterday?This sentence is useful for asking what day yesterday was using qué día.Tatoeba #5400143 by Shishir, translation #5575493 by frpzzd
- 16 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucía and Daniel are looking at their calendars.
- Lucía¿Qué día es la cita del médico?What day is the doctor's appointment?
- DanielEs el próximo martes.It is next Tuesday.
- LucíaGracias, Daniel.Thanks, Daniel.
- DanielDe nada, Lucía.You're welcome, Lucía.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries día, qué, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
