Question

When asking a question what form of a verb do you use. I.e Who speaks Spanish? I know it would be "¿Quién _______ español?" But do I use hablas, habla, hablo, or hablamos? I think it's habla but I'm not sure.

Answer 1

You're right! It's "habla."

When you're asking a question, the verb form that you use depends on your question.

Let me use "hablar," as an example, so that I can explain it for you.

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First, we're gonna take all the present tense forms of the verb "hablar."

(Yo) Hablo ------ (I) Speak
(Tú) Hablas ----- (You) Speak
(él/ella/usted) Habla - (He/She) Speaks
(Nosotros) Hablamos --- (We) Speak
(Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes) Hablan ----- (They) Speak

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Now, let's go back to the question you were asking:

"Who speaks Spanish?"

In this case, the question is about a singular, third person.

So, we have to use the (él/ella/usted) form of the verb.

And that's "habla," which you were right about!

¿Quién habla español?

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But let's pretend your question was "Do you speak Spanish?"

In that case, we would have to use the (Tú) form of the verb.

And that's "hablas."

So, the translation would then be, "¿Tú hablas español?"

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If you still have any questions about verbs, please ask!