Word order in questions (subject - verb) in Spanish
There are two basic types of questions: yes/no questions and questions with an interrogative. Here are the rules for each:
Yes/No questions
The subject usually goes before the verb (¿Pepe está aquí?). Notice that I've chosen the word "usually" with great care: there could be reasons to say "¿Está Pepe aquí?" and this is a perfectly correct question.
Questions with an interrogative (¿qué?, ¿dónde?, ¿cuándo?, etc.)
The subject always goes somewhere after the verb (¿Dónde está Pepe?). Once again, I've chosen the word "always" very carefully: you'll never hear a native speaker say "¿Dónde Pepe está?" although you might hear the same questions with the subject removed from the question structure as in "Y Pepe, ¿dónde está?".
Here are a few examples of each:
Yes/No questions
Spanish
1. ¿Pepe vive aquí? (¿Vive Pepe aquí? is correct too)
2. ¿Tus padres han llegado ya? (¿Han llegado tus padres? is correct too)
3. ¿Jaime fue a fiesta? (¿Fue Jaime a la fiesta? is correct too)
4. ¿Luisa lo compró? (¿Lo compró Luisa? is correct too)
English
1. Does Pepe live here?
2. Have your parents arrived yet?
3. Did Jaime go to the party?
4. Did Luisa buy it?
Questions with an interrogative
Spanish
1. ¿Dónde vive Pepe? (¿Dónde Pepe vive? is NOT correct)
2. ¿Cuándo llegaron tus padres? (¿Cuándo tus padres llegaron? is NOT correct)
3. ¿Adónde fue Jaime? (¿Adónde Jaime fue? is NOT correct)
4. ¿Qué compró Luisa? (¿Qué Luisa compró? is NOT correct)
English
1. Where does Pepe live?
2. When did your parents arrive?
3. Where did Jaime go?
4. What did Luisa buy?
Notice that I said that the subject goes somewhere after the verb with questions that have an interrogative. In a longer question, all and any of the following are correct translations of "What time did Juan arrive from work last night?":
1. ¿A qué hora llegó Juan anoche del trabajo?
2. ¿A qué hora llegó del trabajo anoche Juan?
3. ¿A qué hora llegó anoche Juan del trabajo?
Brad
