¿Qué comiste?
In Spanish, the phrase for "what did you eat" is ¿Qué comiste?
You might use the variation ¿Qué comiste de rico? to ask "What tasty thing did you eat?" in an informal setting, or ¿Qué cenaste ayer? to specifically ask "What did you have for dinner yesterday?" informally.
Which one should you use?
The form ¿Qué comiste? uses the preterite tense to refer to a completed action in the past. This differs from ¿Qué comías?, which refers to a habitual or ongoing action in the past, such as "What were you eating?" or "What used to you eat?"
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Mexico, you might hear ¿Qué comiste de cenar? or ¿Qué cenaste? to specifically refer to the evening meal. In Spain, ¿Qué has comido? is used to inquire about recent meals and in Argentina, ¿Qué almorzaste? is used to refer to eating lunch.
How does it change in a sentence?
To ask a group of people what they ate, use the plural form ¿Qué comieron? When maintaining a formal register with someone you address as "usted", use ¿Qué comió?
Did you know?
- Spanish has a specific word, sobremesa, to describe the tradition of staying at the table talking long after the meal you asked about with ¿Qué comiste? has finished.
- The verb comer is used in the phrase comerse el coco, which means to obsess or overthink something, literally meaning 'to eat one's own head'.
- In some Spanish-speaking cultures, the word comida refers specifically to the main meal of the day, which is usually eaten in the afternoon rather than the morning or evening.
Examples in context
- ¿Qué comiste?What did you eat?This example shows how to use the form ¿Qué comiste?Tatoeba #628664 by Dejo, translation #1830499 by CK
- Buenos días, ¿qué comió usted en el restaurante anoche?Good morning, what did you eat at the restaurant last night?
- Hola, ¿qué ha comido en su viaje por México?Hello, what have you eaten during your trip in Mexico?
- ¿Qué comiste en el almuerzo hoy?What did you eat for lunch today?
- ¡Hola! ¿Qué comiste de rico en la fiesta?Hi! What tasty thing did you eat at the party?
- ¿Qué cenaste ayer en el restaurante nuevo?What did you have for dinner yesterday at the new restaurant?
- ¿Qué cenaste en México ayer?What did you have for dinner in Mexico yesterday?
- ¿Qué has comido en España esta semana?What have you eaten in Spain this week?
- Hola, ¿qué almorzaste en Argentina?Hi, what did you have for lunch in Argentina?
Example conversation
María and Daniel are talking about their day.
- MaríaHola Daniel, ¿qué comiste?Hi Daniel, what did you eat?
- DanielComí un sándwich de jamón.I ate a ham sandwich.
- María¿Te gustó la comida?Did you like the food?
- DanielSí, estaba muy rico.Yes, it was very tasty.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
