26 Comments
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studencio, from my understanding, "De qué color es...?" is used to ask about the color of an object. It puts the focus on the object for which you want to know the color of. Whereas, "Qué color es... ?" is used to ask for the name of a color so if you are questioning whether the glasses are blue, green, or turquoise for example because you are unsure of how you would name the color. The focus of the latter (not using "de") is on the color itself and has nothing to do with the object the color is on. Hopefully my explanation hasn't just made you more confused!
I second your question. I suppose it's more formal, but you'd be understood just fine without "De".
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Are "de qué" and "cual" both acceptable alternatives for asking the colour of a car
Yes, that would be one way of thinking of it (though we don't really say that in English so I doubt it would be accepted).
Carro - cart. (L. Am) car, taxi, cab. Langensheidt Pocket Spanish Dictionary. This has been a public service announcement for those who want to learn Spanish. (As opposed to Mexican, Chilean etc.)
There is no language called Mexican, nor one called Chilean. People in Mexico and Chile speak Spanish. That dismissive way of referring to different varieties of Spanish is not appropriate.
Thank you for educating me Daniel. I'm sorry you feel my comment is dismissive, that was not my intention. I merely meant to point out that different countries use different vocabulary. I will avoid doing it in future, but you may find I have done so several times in old comments.
Marion, I didn't think you were likely being dismissive, but many would take it that way.
Don't be afraid to share any information on regional differences, just remember to phrase it better.
Thanks Daniel. It seems wrong to me that calling the language spoken in a country by the name of that country, rather than it's "conqueror", is seen as dismissive. But if that's the general perception I'll go along.
I speak English, as an American. Calling my language American is like saying I don't speak proper English. My English is as valid as that in England or Australia or South Africa.
Yes, I see your point. It just seems unfair somehow that the people of e.g. Mexico (or for that matter, America) aren't seen as having their "own" language.
'it's conqueror', really? Two things we need from the past: To learn from it and to be able to move on from it.
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Then you should place a "the" in front of color. "What is the color of your car?"
'What is your car's colour?' would be an understandable translation, although not one that an English person would commonly use.
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DL seems not to accept the British spelling "colour" and auto corrects to "color" - I suppose like socks and sox
Report it. It should be accepted.
But, what do you mean by socks vs sox? I'm the US, we wear socks. The White Sox and Red Sox are baseball teams. We never use sox for anything but the proper nouns :)
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Thank you very much for that. All my life I have been under the mistaken impression that sox was how it was spelled in America. One more preconception down the tubes.
