¿De dónde son?
The English phrase "where are they from?" is translated into Spanish as ¿De dónde son?
¿De dónde son? is a common way to ask "Where are they from?" in Spanish. The phrase de dónde translates to "from where." If you want to ask specifically, "from which country are they?", you can use ¿De qué país son?
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase De dónde son is composed of de (from), dónde (where) and son (are they/they are).
Which one should you use?
Depending on the context and the presence of a subject pronoun, ¿De dónde son? can mean both "Where are they from?" and "Where are you all from?"
How does it change in a sentence?
If you are asking about a single person instead of a group, you change the verb from son to es, resulting in ¿De dónde es? to mean "Where is he/she from?"
Did you know?
- In many Spanish-speaking cultures, asking ¿De dónde son? is a primary way to establish a 'connection' or shared hometown, which is a vital part of social bonding.
- The word de in this phrase is a direct descendant of the Latin preposition dē, which has remained remarkably stable for millennia.
- If you are in a country like Mexico or Spain, asking ¿De dónde son? might result in people answering with a specific city or state rather than a country.
Example conversation
Javier and Sofía are talking about some new students.
- JavierMira a esos chicos. ¿De dónde son?Look at those guys. Where are they from?
- SofíaCreo que son de Italia.I think they are from Italy.
- Javier¡Qué bien! Hablan muy bien español.That's great! They speak Spanish very well.
- SofíaSí, estudiaron el idioma el año pasado.Yes, they studied the language last year.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, dónde, son, CC BY-SA 4.0.
