questions & negatives

1. Formation of Yes/No
Questions and Negation
(La formación de preguntas de sí
o no, y la negación)

2. Statements versus Questions
In spoken and written Spanish, statements are normally formed
by placing the subject at the beginning of the sentence, followed
by the verb and an object, if any.
Érica habla francés.
Questions that require a yes-or-no answer are often formed by
placing the subject after the verb, especially when requesting new
information.
¿Habla Érica francés?
Does Érica speak French?

3. Statements versus Questions
To express disbelief about information already given,
maintain the word order for statements, but with rising
intonation (called an echo question).
¿Érica habla francés?
Érica speaks French? (Really?)
In spoken Spanish, all yes-or-no questions are identified
by rising intonation at the end of the question, regardless
of word order.
¿Habla Érica francés?

4. Statements versus Questions
A yes-or-no question can also be formed by adding a tag
word or phrase at the end of a statement. Tag questions are
also used to confirm given information and have rising
intonation over the tag itself.
Érica habla francés, ¿no?
Érica speaks French, doesn’t she?
Érica habla francés, ¿verdad?
Érica speaks French, right?
Érica habla francés, ¿no es así?
Érica speaks French, isn’t that so?

5. Question Marks and Intonation
(Los signos de interrogación y la entonación)
An inverted question mark (¿) is always placed at the beginning
of a question word or phrase, and another right-side-up question
mark (?) at the end.
¿Cómo? Pardon? How’s that again?
¿Cómo es tu profesor? What is your professor like?
While in English, word order or the helper verb do normally indicate a
question, in Spanish, word order for questions and statements can be
identical, and Spanish has no equivalent to the helper verb do. Thus, in
written Spanish, the inverted question mark alerts the reader that a
question follows.
Juan habla inglés. Juan speaks English.
¿Juan habla inglés? Does Juan speak English?

6. Question Marks and Intonation
(Los signos de interrogación y la entonación)
Again, with yes-or-no questions in spoken Spanish, the speaker’s
intonation is the indicator of the question.
¿Eres estudiante? Are you a student?
Eres estudiante. You are a student.
With questions that do not require yes or no in the answer, intonation is
not an indicator; instead, we listen for the question word at or near the
beginning of the phrase.
¿De dónde es? Where is he from?
Es de California. He’s from California.

7. Negation
We make a sentence negative in Spanish by simply
placing no before the verb.
Érica no habla francés.
Érica doesn’t speak French.
Be careful, though. In Spanish, the no is always before
the verb, even when its equivalent (not, etc.) is after the
verb in English.
Nosotros no somos de España.
We are not from Spain.

8. Negation
When we answer a yes-or-no question negatively, the
word no followed by a comma also precedes the verb
phrase.
¿Habla Érica francés?
No, no habla francés.
The first no simply The second no is the equivalent of
negates the question. doesn’t.
No, she doesn’t speak French.

9. FIN