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- "¿Qué países conoces?"
93 Comments
1281
What is used to ask a question when there are an unknown number or infinite possibilities for an answer. Which is used when you have a very small or limited field to choose from.
Huh. I've never thought about it that way, but that seems to be pretty true. "Which" is like "select" and "what" is like "supply". I'll have to steal that from you. Thanks!
Great success you must get from your tutoring. That took me out of the what-which fog.
- 430
i wonder if this will work every time, but i like your "which test" a lot - going to try using it
So, by that rule, "which countries..." should be correct, since there is a limited number of countries to choose from? As an English speaker, I'd say "which" is more correct than "what", but either will do.
- 929
"Which" is usually preferred when you have a short list given. The number of countries is neither a short list nor is it usually given. But using "which" is still good.
- 305
I like your distinction very much. Given that, I like the use of 'which' as a translation for 'que' here. I suppose it's a little subjective what constitutes a 'very small' field but given that the number of countries is definitely limited, I think that 'which' is a good choice using your criteria. 'Which' is accepted Jan. 19,2020.
now hold the phone, there is a generally known number of countries. some may be disputed but i think id be cual in this case. or maybe both work idk
- 929
If the word following the question word is a noun, you should always use qué. "¿Cuál [nombre]...?" is often used as well, but it's not actually correct. (Also, for a plural noun, it would need to be cuáles here.)
Which is also used to refer to specific things, such as which countries you know, whether or not that list is considered small or large. The important factor being that the thing(s) is(are) specific, not the number of things.
'With what countries are you familiar?' marked wrong. This should be correct, as it is actually a better grammatical translation.
Correct, yes. Did you report it? That's how they change things.
Better, no. If it's about ending sentences with prepositions, there has never been a time in English history where grammarians agreed on that prohibition, nor has there been a time when most native speakers avoided the construction.
Generally, English speakers try to front their interrogative pronouns, so one could even argue that the translation DL uses is better.
Regardless, both are perfectly correct.
- 312
We all know the joke right? A friendly Texan asks a snooty woman, "Where y'all from?" The snooty woman tells her she should never end a sentence with a preposition. The Texan replies, "Alright, where y'all from, b****?"
Not really because all Texans know how to get along! For reading English sentences, it flows better without ending in prepositions. However good novelists to make there writing more believable or provincial end sentences with prepositions as needed. Other novelists wouldn't know the difference.
I reported it since it's not yet accepted - I also thought to avoid the dangling despite the obvious capitalization hint
Agreed. In my report, I included that few people speak correctly, but that doesn't mean that the grammatically correct answer should be marked wrong.
Conocer when used in places or countries would mean that you actually been there and not just know the facts and information on that place. I think duo is telling us that if we use "know" on this context, we are actually saying the verb Saber.
"With what countries are you familiar?" is grammatically correct. Why isn't it accepted?
- 212
As a native English speaker I would not say "with what..." but "With which...." I don't know the grammatical reason but to my ears "with which...." sounds better.
- 1712
Why do you need the accent in países? It's the penultimate syllable in a word that ends in S, which usually means no accent. Does it have to do with discriminating between the A and the I? I don't understand.
- 929
The vowel combination "ai" is a diphthong in Spanish, so without an accent it would be treated as one syllable - rhyming with the English "rice". By putting the accent on the 'i', you split that diphthong, making it the proper two-syllable word "pa-ís".
I got this marked wrong on 1/8/19, also. What is the difference between acquainted and familiar?
Like I said, qué is the preferred word in those situations for most Spanish speakers, but cuál is not considered wrong any more.
Not in this case, when used as interrogative adjectives qué and cuál have exactly the same meaning, but qué sounds more natural.
- 929
Yeah, that sounds a lot like "What countries have you heard of?", which is not what the Spanish sentence is expressing. "Conocer un país" means mostly that you've been to that country.
@RyagonIV I'm a bit confused... if I say "conozco", it means I have been there (país), but what about a person... ej. Conozco a Denzel Washington, means I met him or just I know he's an actor or I read about him or other...
- 929
Regarding a person, conocer can be used more broadly. You can say "Conozco a Denzel Washington" if you know who he is, you don't have to have met him.
However, if you want to mention facts about him, like that he's an actor, you need to use saber: "Sé que Denzel Washington es actor."
"¿ Qué países conoces ?" : What country do you know ?
"¿ Con qué países estás familiarizado ?" : What countries are you familar with ? "
- 49
what's wrong with "What countries you know?" Even if I'd rather ask what coutries you visited...
- 448
You know, it's frustrating when I say one of the words the mic doesn't pick up and I'm not given credit for it. Not much, I know, that can be done about it. But I reserve the right to whine and pout.
What does conoces/conocer actually mean? Ive seen it used slightly differently in several examples now but not seen any explaination as how to use. Does it mean know, meet or familiar with?
Yes. All three. It means to know a person, a city, rather than knowing how to swim. It means to meet someone for the first time. It means to be familiar with. It can be used to mean to visit, later on in the tree are lessons where it is used in the sense of visiting a city as a tourist.
Como castellanoparlante ante la pregunta "Qué países conoces?" podria contestar que todos los del mundo porque los he estudiado en un mapa geopolítico. Pero para traducir como ustedes traducen la frase deberia estar más acotada añadiendo " por haber visitado" o simplemente cambiando el "conoces" por "visitado" En este caso la traduccion seria mejor " What countries do you know".
I tried "with what countriea are you familiar?" That shouls also be correct.
- 885
For the non-English speakers, the formal rule is, "Never use a preposition to end a sentence with." (See what I did there?!) The proper (although rather stited English translation should be, " With what countries are you familiar?"
- 929
It's not a rule that developed natively and it never really caught on. Avoiding prespositions at the end of a sentence is not any more formal than not doing it.
Your help guide also says what country are you familiar with either answer should be correct
Why has this been marked wrong "what counties do you know" is the same as "what counties are you familiar with"
- 312
Counties are groups of cities. Countries are nations. One little letter changes the meaning.
- 929
I would be okay with that translation, but you have to note that the English "to know" is somewhat different from conocer.
- I know this country. - I have heard its name and know some facts about it.
- Conozco este país. - I have been there.
Shouldn't this be cual considering the verb conoces isn't directly after the question word?
- 929
You might have misremembered a rule there.
Here you have the question word directly followed by a noun. In this case you'll use the question word qué, at least in formal Spanish. Informally, "¿Cuál [nombre] ...?" is also used in parts of Latin America.
I translated "conocen"...can this be considered correct also, since "you" could also be plural?
- 429
For what it´s worth--I started school at 3 years of age and I am now 88---I was taught---"A preposition is a word that you shouldn´t end a sentence with"
In English you should never end a sentence with a preposition. How could it have been better translated
This isn't at all true. Though it has been repeated by poorly educated English teachers across the United States.
If native speakers use a language in a certain way, then that is literally how the language's usage is defined.
However, even if your prefer references (which are just outdated analysis of native speakers, though less outdated than the past due to the speed at which one can update a webpage vs publishing a new book), look at any grammar reference and it will confirm that it is indeed okay to end your sentence with a preposition. (Webster, Oxford, Grammarly, Grammarmonster, or whichever)
Of these options:
"Which countries are you familiar with?"
"You are familiar with which countries?"
"With which countries are you familiar?"
The first, which ends in a preposition, is by far the most commonly used amongst native speakers around the world.
Since you're trying to be hypercorrection and haven't read the rest of the discussion, it should be "with which countries.". Since there is not an unlimited set of countries.
Why not ¿Tú conoces qué paises? Duo usually puts the nouns at the beginning of a question.
- 315
Is it okay if we ask questions that prepositions aren't a part of? That's an argument I'd like to associate with.
Anyway, I'm all for dropping pronouns, but where would it be if you kept it? I got dinged for ¿Qué países tu conoces? What did I do wrong?
Female voice is very difficult to understand. She drops the end of many words
"Conocer" from the 501 Verbs (Bible) is "to know" or "to be acquainted with". The latter was not accepted. Com'on man!
- 113
Does "pais" in Spanish refer specifically to a nation-state or can it also refer to local area? In English we sometimes say that one is "familiar with this country" to refer to the local terrain specifically, not necessarily familiarity with the entire nation.
