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Spanish questions for describing people | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| kaizen Groupie Canada Joined 4902 days ago 48 posts - 52 votes  Studies: French | Message 1 of 5 17 June 2015 at 1:04am | IP Logged |
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I've started working on my Spanish again daily, and recently started talking on Skype with a guy from Spain to help with my speaking ability. He's a good guy and talking with him has been quite helpful, but he's not a teacher, so he's not used to explaining why and how things are done in the language.
I used to teach English in Korea and Japan, and one of the things I used to teach the adults that I think was quite useful was how to ask questions to get a description of people and things. I used to focus on these 3 questions: 1) What's he like? (e.g. He's funny and smart.) 2) What does he like? (e.g. He likes playing the guitar and watching movies.) 3) What does he look like? (e.g. He's tall and thin.) Questions 1 and 3 are both often used for things as well. For example, "What's your new place like?" and "What does your jacket look like?" (e.g when someone's lost their jacket and you're helping them find it). Anyways, I'm wondering how these 3 questions are usually done in spoken, casual Spanish. I realize it may vary between Europe and the different countries in Latin America, but I'd like something that would be common in most of the Spanish-speaking world. Thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Emily96 Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4373 days ago 270 posts - 342 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin | Message 2 of 5 17 June 2015 at 6:30am | IP Logged |
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I'm not a native speaker, but i'll take a stab at it -
1) ¿Cómo está? Está cómico e inteligente. 2) ¿Qué le gusta? Le gusta tocar la guitarra y mirar películas. 3) I think you would also use ¿Cómo está? Está grande y delgado. I suppose you could also say ¿A qué parece? but that sounds awkward to me... I'd use the same structure for the other examples as well: ¿Cómo está tu nueva casa? ¿Cómo está tu chaqueta? While typing out those last few examples i started to wonder if it should be ser rather than estar... you'll have to see what others say! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4235 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 3 of 5 17 June 2015 at 10:22am | IP Logged |
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1) ¿Cómo es? (i.e.: ¿Cómo es como persona?). Only ser can be used, estar is a common
greeting for asking for how someone is. This is the only correct form regardless of dialect, region, or register when asking about someone's inherent character. 2) This is a bit vague, but it depends on the context. ¿Qué le gusta? is just about anything, but not specifically hobbies. ¿Qué le gusta hacer? o ¿Qué es lo que le gusta [a él]? If asking about hobbies, ¿Cuál es su afición? o ¿Qué hace/Qué suele hacer en su tiempo libre? is also possible. Le gusta tocar la guitarra y ver películas. 3) This is also a bit vague, and depends on context. ¿Cómo se ve? o ¿Cómo se parece? is what comes to my mind. ¿Cuál es su apariencia? is also possible, but it is more specific. It implies the interlocutor to give detailled descriptions. It can be used for both people and objects. ¿Qué pinta tiene? is also possible, but it asks about the state of something, e.g., an answer could be, «Mi chaqueta tiene mala pinta» ("My jacket looks bad") o «Mi chaqueta parece pegada» ("My jacket looks beat up/overused) If asking what something looks like, do you mean that sometihng looks like something else? If that is the case, you have to use ¿A qué se parece tu chaqueta? Edited by 1e4e6 on 17 June 2015 at 10:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4495 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 5 18 June 2015 at 6:57pm | IP Logged |
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I think "¿Cómo es?" works for both 1 & 3 (although 1e4e6's suggestions are also options
for 3.) In my experience, native speakers tend to answer that question by describing the person's character and appearance, f.e. "Es algo antipático pero muy guapo." If you want to ask only and specifically about looks you could also ask "¿Cómo es físicamente?" 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kaizen Groupie Canada Joined 4902 days ago 48 posts - 52 votes Studies: French | Message 5 of 5 23 June 2015 at 4:14am | IP Logged |
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Thanks to all three of you for your replies. They're very thorough, and they definitely clear it up for me.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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