Spanish 1 Quiz: Information Questions
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Information QuestionsQuestion 1 of 9

Marta sees her friend Carlos carrying many books and asks him a question. Carlos responds: 'Tengo ocho libros hoy.'

Based on Carlos's response, which question did Marta most likely ask?

¿Dónde están tus libros hoy?
¿Por qué tienes tantos libros hoy?
¿Cuáles libros tienes hoy?
¿Cuántos libros tienes hoy?
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Spanish 1 Quiz

Spanish 1 Quiz: Information Questions

Practice Information Questions in Spanish 1 with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.

What this quiz covers

This quiz focuses on Information Questions, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Spanish 1.

How to use this quiz

Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.

All questions

Question 1

Marta sees her friend Carlos carrying many books and asks him a question. Carlos responds: 'Tengo ocho libros hoy.'

Based on Carlos's response, which question did Marta most likely ask?

  1. ¿Dónde están tus libros hoy?
  2. ¿Por qué tienes tantos libros hoy?
  3. ¿Cuáles libros tienes hoy?
  4. ¿Cuántos libros tienes hoy? (correct answer)
Explanation: When working with question-and-answer exchanges in Spanish, the key skill is matching the question word to the type of answer given. Ask yourself: what kind of information does the response contain? Then work backwards to find the question that would have prompted it. Carlos responds with "Tengo ocho libros hoy" — the core information here is a number ("ocho"). Whenever a response gives a quantity or number, the question that prompted it almost certainly used ¿Cuántos/Cuántas?, which means "How many?" So the logical question Marta asked is D) ¿Cuántos libros tienes hoy? ("How many books do you have today?") — a perfect match for a numerical answer. Looking at the wrong choices: A) ¿Dónde están tus libros? asks for a location ("Where are your books?"), which would require an answer like "en mi mochila" or "en la clase," not a number. B) ¿Por qué tienes tantos libros? asks for a reason ("Why do you have so many books?"), which would demand an explanation like "Porque tengo un examen." A number alone doesn't answer "why." C) ¿Cuáles libros tienes? asks which specific books ("Which books do you have?"), so Carlos would need to name the titles, not give a count. A useful strategy: memorize the Spanish question words alongside the type of answer each one demands — ¿Cuántos? → number, ¿Dónde? → place, ¿Por qué? → reason, ¿Cuál/Cuáles? → specific item(s). This lets you match questions to answers quickly on any exam.

Question 2

Elena wants to ask her professor about an upcoming test. She tries to ask: 'Which exam is the hardest in this class?'

Which Spanish sentence best expresses Elena's question with correct question word choice and word order?

  1. ¿Cuál examen es el más difícil de esta clase?
  2. ¿Qué examen es el más difícil de esta clase?
  3. ¿Cuál es el examen más difícil de esta clase? (correct answer)
  4. ¿Qué es el examen más difícil de esta clase?
Explanation: When asking questions in Spanish, one of the trickiest distinctions is choosing between ¿cuál? and ¿qué?, and knowing where to place them in the sentence. Here's the core rule: use ¿qué? when asking for a definition or explanation ("What is...?"). Use ¿cuál? when selecting from a set of options or asking "which one?" — especially before the verb ser. Critically, ¿cuál? is followed directly by the verb, not by a noun. When you want "which + noun," Spanish actually restructures the sentence so ¿cuál? precedes es, and the noun comes after. Option C — ¿Cuál es el examen más difícil de esta clase? — is correct because it follows this exact pattern: ¿cuál + es + [noun phrase]. It asks "Which one is the hardest exam?" — selecting from options, just as Elena intends. Option A (¿Cuál examen es...?) is a common trap. Placing cuál directly before a noun (examen) is incorrect in Spanish — that construction doesn't work the way it does in English. Option B (¿Qué examen es...?) is tricky because ¿qué + noun is grammatically valid in Spanish (e.g., ¿Qué libro lees?), but it asks "What kind of exam?" seeking a definition, not selecting among specific exams. The meaning shifts away from Elena's intent. Option D (¿Qué es el examen...?) misuses ¿qué? before es with a specific noun, which would ask for a definition of what an exam is — clearly wrong. Remember this pattern: ¿Cuál es + el/la + noun? = "Which [noun] is...?" Store it as a fixed structure and you'll avoid the cuál/qué trap consistently.

Question 3

A student wants to ask a classmate: 'How many brothers do you have?' Which sentence correctly forms this question in Spanish?

  1. ¿Cuántos hermanos tienes tú? (correct answer)
  2. ¿Cuánto hermanos tienes tú?
  3. ¿Cuántos hermanos tú tienes?
  4. ¿Cuánto hermano tienes tú?
Explanation: When asking questions with "how many" in Spanish, you need to think about two things at once: the interrogative word cuánto and noun-adjective agreement. The word cuánto functions like an adjective here, meaning it must match the noun it modifies in both gender and number. The noun hermanos is masculine and plural, so cuánto must become cuántos. Choice A — ¿Cuántos hermanos tienes tú? — is correct. Cuántos properly agrees with the masculine plural noun hermanos, and the verb tienes correctly matches the subject tú. The word order is also natural for a Spanish question. Choice B — ¿Cuánto hermanos tienes tú? — uses the singular form cuánto before a plural noun. This is a number agreement error; since hermanos is plural, you need cuántos, not cuánto. Choice C — ¿Cuántos hermanos tú tienes? — gets the agreement right but places tú before the verb, which sounds unnatural and awkward in a direct question. In standard Spanish questions, the subject pronoun (when used) typically follows the verb: tienes tú, not tú tienes. Choice D — ¿Cuánto hermano tienes tú? — makes two errors: it uses the singular cuánto and the singular hermano, when the question is asking about multiple brothers. Both the adjective and noun must be plural. A quick memory trick: treat cuánto like any other adjective — it has four forms (cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas) and must always match its noun. Always identify the noun's gender and number before choosing your form.

Question 4

You are trying to find out where your friend's Spanish class meets. You want to ask: 'Where is the Spanish class?'

Which question correctly asks where the Spanish class is located?

  1. ¿Dónde está la clase de español? (correct answer)
  2. ¿Cuándo está la clase de español?
  3. ¿Cómo está la clase de español?
  4. ¿Qué es la clase de español?
Explanation: When asking questions in Spanish, the interrogative word (question word) you choose at the start determines what information you're seeking — and mixing them up is one of the most common early mistakes in Spanish 1. To ask about location — where something or someone is — Spanish uses ¿Dónde?, which directly translates to "where." So the sentence ¿Dónde está la clase de español? literally means "Where is the Spanish class?" — exactly what you need. Notice it also correctly uses está (from the verb estar), which is used for location in Spanish. That makes A the correct answer. Here's why the other options miss the mark: B uses ¿Cuándo?, which means "when" — this would ask about the time of the class, not its location. C uses ¿Cómo?, meaning "how" — this would ask about the condition or quality of the class (like "How is the class going?"), not where it meets. D swaps in ¿Qué es? ("What is?") and also switches the verb to es (from ser) — this would ask for a definition or description of Spanish class, not its location. The verb change from está to es is also a red flag, since ser is not used for location in Spanish. A helpful memory trick: the Spanish question words often resemble their English counterparts — Dónde = where, Cuándo = when, Cómo = how. Memorizing this short list will help you decode and construct questions quickly on any Spanish exam.

Question 5

Read the following exchange: Pedro: '  es tu profesora de matemáticas?' Luisa: 'Es la señora Gómez. Es muy inteligente y simpática.'

Which question word best completes Pedro's question, given Luisa's response?

  1. Qué
  2. Cómo
  3. Quién (correct answer)
  4. Cuál
Explanation: When you see a question asking you to fill in a question word in Spanish, your first move should be to look at the response, not the blank. Luisa's answer tells you everything: she names a specific person — la señora Gómez — and then describes her personality. That means Pedro must have asked about a person, which points directly to an interrogative that identifies people. C) Quién is correct because quién means "who" and is used to ask about the identity of a person. Pedro's question — ¿Quién es tu profesora de matemáticas? — translates to "Who is your math teacher?" and Luisa responds with a name, a perfect match. As for the distractors: A) Qué means "what" and is used to ask about things, definitions, or concepts — not people. Substituting it here would produce an awkward, mismatched exchange. B) Cómo means "how" and is commonly used in ¿Cómo te llamas? or to ask about manner and condition. It does not ask for someone's identity, so Luisa's response with a name would not logically follow. D) Cuál means "which" and is used when selecting among options or asking for specific information like a phone number or address — again, not a person's identity. A handy tip: in Spanish, quién/quiénes = who (people), qué = what (things/concepts), cuál = which (selection/specifics), cómo = how (manner/description). When a response gives you a person's name, quién is almost always your answer.

Question 6

Which of the following sentences is the most grammatically correct way to ask 'At what time does the movie begin?' in Spanish?

  1. ¿A qué hora la película empieza?
  2. ¿Qué hora empieza la película?
  3. ¿A cuándo empieza la película?
  4. ¿A qué hora empieza la película? (correct answer)
Explanation: When asking "at what time" in Spanish, you need two key components working together: the preposition a (meaning "at") paired with qué hora (meaning "what time"), plus proper question word order where the verb comes before the subject. Option D — ¿A qué hora empieza la película? — gets both of these right. The phrase a qué hora correctly translates "at what time," and the verb empieza (begins) appears before the subject la película (the movie), which is standard Spanish interrogative word order. This makes D the correct answer. Now let's break down where the other options go wrong. Option A (¿A qué hora la película empieza?) uses the right opening phrase but fails on word order — in Spanish questions, the subject should not come between the verb and the rest of the sentence. Putting la película before empieza sounds unnatural and grammatically awkward. Option B (¿Qué hora empieza la película?) is missing the critical preposition a. Without it, you're essentially asking "What time begins the movie?" rather than "At what time does the movie begin?" — a small word that makes a big difference. Option C (¿A cuándo empieza la película?) uses cuándo, which means "when," not "at what time." While related in concept, a cuándo is not idiomatic in Spanish for asking about clock time. A helpful tip: memorize the fixed phrase ¿A qué hora...? as a complete unit. It's one of the most common question starters in Spanish-1 and will appear frequently in conversations about schedules, events, and daily routines.

Question 7

Which of the following questions has an error in word order or question word usage?

  1. ¿Por qué estudias tanto para el examen?
  2. ¿Cuándo tú comes el almuerzo normalmente? (correct answer)
  3. ¿Cómo se llama tu mejor amigo?
  4. ¿Adónde van ustedes esta noche?
Explanation: When forming questions in Spanish, one of the most important rules to remember is subject-verb inversion: after a question word (like cuándo, por qué, cómo, etc.), the verb typically comes before the subject. This is different from English, where we often keep the subject before the verb even in questions. That's exactly what makes B the problematic sentence. ¿Cuándo tú comes el almuerzo normalmente? places the subject tú between the question word and the verb comes, which violates standard Spanish word order. The correct phrasing would be ¿Cuándo comes tú el almuerzo normalmente? or, more naturally, simply ¿Cuándo comes el almuerzo normalmente? — dropping tú entirely, since the verb ending already tells us the subject. The other three options are all grammatically correct. A (¿Por qué estudias tanto para el examen?) properly drops the subject pronoun and lets the verb follow the question word directly. C (¿Cómo se llama tu mejor amigo?) correctly uses the reflexive construction llamarse with the verb before the subject. D (¿Adónde van ustedes esta noche?) is a great example of correct inversion — van comes right after adónde, and ustedes follows the verb. A handy tip: in Spanish questions, think of the structure as Question Word → Verb → (Subject). If you see a subject wedged between the question word and the verb — the way tú appears in B — that's a red flag for a word order error.

Question 8

A student writes: '¿De dónde eres tú?' to ask a new classmate about their origin. What is the student asking?

  1. Where are you from? (asking about the person's place of origin) (correct answer)
  2. Where are you going? (asking about the person's current destination)
  3. Where do you live? (asking about the person's current residence)
  4. Where were you? (asking about the person's past location)
Explanation: When you see a question involving ¿De dónde...? in Spanish, you're being tested on question words (interrogatives) and how they combine with verbs to express specific meanings. Breaking the phrase apart is the fastest way to identify what's being asked. ¿De dónde eres tú? translates literally as "From where are you?" — making A the correct answer. The key components are: de (from), dónde (where), and eres (you are — second person singular of ser, the verb used for origin and identity). Together, they form a question about a person's place of origin, which is exactly why ser — not estar — is used here. In Spanish, origin is a permanent characteristic expressed with ser. Choice B ("Where are you going?") would require the verb ir — as in ¿A dónde vas? — not ser. The word eres has nothing to do with movement or destination. Choice C ("Where do you live?") would use the verb vivir, giving you ¿Dónde vives? — and notably, it would omit de, since living somewhere doesn't require "from." Choice D ("Where were you?") would need a past tense verb like estabas (imperfect of estar), which expresses temporary location — not eres, which is present tense and tied to identity. A useful tip: in Spanish, always pay attention to both the question word (dónde vs. ¿a dónde?) and the verb (ser, estar, ir, vivir). That combination tells you exactly what kind of information is being requested.

Question 9

A Spanish teacher asks students to write the question 'Why don't you do your homework?' in Spanish, using the subject pronoun tú. Which option uses correct standard written question word order?

  1. ¿Por qué tú no haces la tarea?
  2. ¿Por qué no haces tú la tarea? (correct answer)
  3. ¿Para qué no haces tú la tarea?
  4. ¿Por qué no tú haces la tarea?
Explanation: When forming questions in Spanish with a question word (like por qué), the standard written word order follows this pattern: question word → verb → subject → rest of the sentence. This is called subject-verb inversion, and it's a key feature of formal written Spanish questions that this problem is testing. Option B, ¿Por qué no haces tú la tarea?, follows this structure correctly. The question word por qué comes first, then the verb haces, then the subject tú, then the rest of the predicate. Notice also that no appears before the verb (as negation always must), and por qué is the right phrase meaning "why" in the sense of asking for a reason. Option A, ¿Por qué tú no haces la tarea?, places the subject tú before the verb haces, which reads more like a declarative sentence than a proper question — it skips the inversion that Spanish formal written questions require. Option C, ¿Para qué no haces tú la tarea?, has the correct verb-subject inversion but uses the wrong question word. Para qué means "what for" or "for what purpose," not "why." It changes the meaning of the question entirely. Option D, ¿Por qué no tú haces la tarea?, places tú between the negation no and the verb haces, which is grammatically incorrect in Spanish — the subject cannot interrupt the negation-verb unit. A useful tip: in written Spanish questions with question words, train yourself to look for the verb before the subject pattern. If the subject comes right before the verb, the sentence likely lacks proper inversion.