- Interrogatives are also very important words of the Portuguese vocabulary. Interrogatives are the question-words. They allow us to ask questions like “Onde?” [on-deh] – “where”, “Quando” [kwando] – “When”, etc.
The interrogatives of the Portuguese vocabulary are like this:
| Portuguese Interrogative |
Word sound |
Meaning |
| A que horas? |
[ah kay oh-rash? |
What time at? |
| Com que frequência? |
[con kay fray-kwen-ceeah?] |
How often? |
| Com quem? |
[con kaing?] |
With who? |
| Como? |
[koh-moh?] |
How / What? |
| Como (é)? |
[koh-moh (ay)?] |
what (is it) like? |
| Donde? |
[don-deh?] EU
{don-chee?] BR |
Where from? |
| De que côr? |
[deh kay cohr?] EU
[chee-kee-cohr] BR |
What colour? |
| Há quanto tempo? |
[ah kwan-too teing-poo?] |
How long ago? |
| * (O) que? |
[oo kay?] |
what? |
| Onde? |
[on-deh?] EU
[on-chee?] |
where? |
| Para onde? |
[pah-rah on-deh?] EU
[pah-rah on-chee?] |
where to? |
| Para que? |
[pah-rah kay?] EU
[pah-rah kee?] |
What for? |
| Porque? / Por que? |
[poohr kay?] EU
[poohr kee?] |
Why? |
| Qual
Quais? |
[kwal?]
[kwaiss?] |
Which one
Which ones? |
| Quando? |
[kwan-doo?] |
When? |
| Quanto? |
[kwan-too?] |
How much? |
| Quantos? |
[kwan-toosh?] EU
[kwan-tooss?] |
How many? |
| Quantos anos? |
[kwan-toos ah-noos?] |
How old? |
| De que tamanho? |
[deh kay tah-mah-nyio?] EU
[chee kee tah-mah-nyio?] |
How big/small?
What size? |
| Quem? |
[kaying?] |
Who? |
| Quem? |
[kaying?] |
Who? |
*
“O que?” is normally followed by a verb, (e.g. “O que
bebe?” – “what would you like to drink?”), whereas “Que?” is followed by a noun (e.g. “Que carro tem?” – “What car do you have?”).
Note: When European (EU) Portuguese native speakers ask a question, they normally emphasize these question words of the Portuguese vocabulary with
“é que” (e.g. Quem é que come carne? – Who eats meat?). If you ask questions with this
“é que”, you’ll impress your Portuguese friends, because normally, only native speakers use it! However, it has to be said really fast to sound natural. My suggestion is: practise them all
running the words together like this: “Como é que?” [koo-may kay?], “porque é que?” [poohr-kay-kay?], and so on.]]>
