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Questions that involve an es usually replace Qué with cuál. Cuál es tu número de teléfono? What is your phone number? Similarly, Cuál es tu problema? What is your problem?
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It is an exception. This is just the way people say it in Spanish.
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"¿Qué es el precio?" for me will sound like "What is price?". Price is something people put on things so they can exchange it for money.
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"Cuál" is also "what", it depends on the context. For example: What's your name? / ¿Cuál es tu nombre?.
That's the direct translation, however "How much is it?" is obviously also correct.
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I got it wrong because I didn't know the exception. In english we have tons of exceptions, so I understand if spanish has a few!
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Es is a conjugation of the verb ser 'to be'. My Spanish friend tried to explain to me that this is the reason they use cuál and not que. Probably much further down the line in lessons and I'm not clear on the Spanish grammar rules yet. Just throwing what info I gleaned out there.
If 'cual' means 'which' or 'which one', why can't this be translated "Which one is the price?" As in when it's not clear which one is the correct price of an item?
If you say "Qué es el precio" that would be like asking for the definition of "el precio". Although qué is usually used to mean "what" and cuál is usually used to mean "which", there are times when qué is used for the latter and cuál for the former. It can be a very confusing concept. This can help you understand a bit: http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/que_vs_cual.htm
Shouldn't it also be, "How much is it?"? That is how people say it in English normally.
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What do I have to ask when I want to know the price of a specific object (a skirt, jeans, vegetable ...)? ¿Cuál es el precio de falda rojo? Is it right?
In a previous exercise we had Que in something like 'Qué talla buscas/quieres/necesitas' from DL ; i assume from advice here that if I invert the sentence to use ser, it would become 'Cuál es la talla que buscas' ? and similarly something for this one like 'Qué precio pagé' where ser is not used?
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I know 'what' is correct English but would you really ask the price in Spanish with the word 'which'?
Yes. It's a contextual thing. "Qué es" is usually used to ask for definitions (e.g. "what is a price?" "it's the amount you pay for something".) So before the word 'es', 'Cuál' is used instead when you're not asking for a definition.
It's awkward, but people would probably know what you mean. But if you ask "Qué es un precio", you're literally asking for the definition of the word "price".
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"Cuál" is used when asking for a choice from a known group. "Qué" is used when you don't have any clear idea of what the answer could be.
