qué

What

Level 1

Qué asks what.

How It Works

Qué asks about a thing or an action. Start with qué and keep the usual verb form: Qué fas? (What are you doing?), Qué manjatz? (What are you eating?). Occitan needs no helping verb like English "do". The answer names the thing or the action: Manjam pan. (We are eating bread.)

Before es the vowel drops and an apostrophe joins the two words: Qu'es aquò? (What is that?). Say it as one word.

Keep the accent in qué. Without it, que is another word, such as "that" or "than". To ask about a person, use qui: Qui es aquel òme?

Examples (4)

  1. Qué manjas?

    What are you eating?

    Qué asks about the thing.

  2. Qu'es aquò?

    What is that?

    Qué becomes qu' before es.

  3. Qué fan los dròlles?

    What are the children doing?

    The verb fan stays plural.

  4. Qué fasèm deman?

    What are we doing tomorrow?

    Qué starts the question.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

quéLevel 1What

Learn This First

The first question learners ask is Qu'es aquò?, so the present of èsser comes first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

qué