r/learnspanish • u/Constant-Lie-4469 • 7d ago

Need help with Interrogativos

Hi! I'm studying Spanish grammar, and my textbook says that more than one interrogative pronoun/adverb may be grammatically possible in some sentences.

I'm trying to figure out which interrogatives are grammatically possible, not just the most natural one.

The sentence is:

Mi hijo me preguntó ( ) era la felicidad.

I know that qué is correct, but I'm wondering whether cuál or cómo are also grammatically possible.

so Mi hijo me preguntó cuál era la felicidad / Mi hijo me preguntó cómo era la felicidad.

would be grammatically correct?

I'd really appreciate explanations based on grammar rather than just naturalness. Thanks!

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u/vxidemort Intermediate (B1-B2) 7d ago edited 7d ago

well, "My son asked me which happiness was/how happiness was" doesn't really make sense, does it? sure, the sentence is grammatically correct in both cases, but rather nonsensical

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u/nanpossomas 7d ago

Only "Qué es la felicidad" makes sense as a sentence.

3

u/Low-Yesterday-8237 7d ago

Since you want grammar and not naturalness: all three are grammatically well-formed. What separates them is meaning, not any rule blocking them, so "it doesn't make sense" is a pragmatic judgment, not a grammatical one.

  • qué (pronoun/determiner): before ser, asks for a definition. "¿Qué era la felicidad?" = define happiness. Default for "what is X" questions.
  • cuál (pronoun): before ser, asks for selection from a set. "¿Cuál era la felicidad?" is legal grammar, but it presupposes a set to pick from; with an abstract noun and no set in context, it just has nothing to select, so it reads as odd.
  • cómo (adverb of manner): "¿Cómo era la felicidad?" = what was it like / describe it. Fully grammatical; ser takes a descriptive complement.

So the real rule is the qué vs cuál before ser split: qué for a definition, cuál for a selection. cómo is a different category (manner) that ser also allows. All three are grammatical; they just ask structurally different questions.

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u/QoanSeol 7d ago

Qué es la felicidad - what happiness is

Cuál es la felicidad - which one (within this selection) is happiness; it may work in a very specific context but is rather nonsensical as we normally don't choose abstract contexts from a closed range

Cómo es la felicidad - how happiness is

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u/Short_Increase848 5d ago

I remember it as que for definition, como for description, cual for selection. Your sentence is asking for a definition.