Direct full or partial interrogative sentences

To understand how the direct full or partial interrogative sentences first we need to understand the modality concept. The modality, in Spanish, is the way in which the speaker presents the information in order to achieve a specific communicative purpose. That is, the modality is the way in which the speaker expresses the information that he wants to transmit, so that a statement Interrogative follows specific training guidelines and with a limited purpose, which generally tends to be to obtain an answer to a question previous.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to explain which are the interrogative sentences in Spanish and we are also going to distinguish several subtypes: total direct interrogative sentences and the direct partial interrogative sentences, explaining each one with several examples.

Index

1. What are interrogative sentences
2. Total direct interrogative sentences
3. Partial direct interrogative sentences

We understand by interrogative sentence all that sentence that the speaker uses to request information about a certain thing or situation (Do you know where the Atocha station is?), as well as to express orders indirectly and / or courteously (Can you close the window?).

The main characteristic of interrogative sentences is that, both at the beginning and at the end of it, we must write the question mark correspondent ("?"). In this regard, it is important to remember that, unlike other European languages, such as English, French or Italian, the language Spanish has as a spelling rule the use of the opening question mark ("¿") always, otherwise it is considered a lack of orthography.

Similarly, on a phonetic level, we know when we use an interrogative sentence within oral discourse because we change the pitch and intonation of the phrase, so that the melodic curve is modified from less ascending to more ascending.

Within the interrogative sentences that exist in Spanish, we can clearly distinguish two types differentiated: total direct interrogative sentences and direct interrogative sentences partial.

The total direct interrogative sentences are those interrogative sentences that need a answer of "yes" or "no". For example, all the questions we see below are considered total direct interrogative sentences:

• Have you seen the last Almodóvar movie?
• Have you ever been to Morocco?
• Do you like the color of the new dress that I bought?
• Are you going to go to the beach on vacation in August?
• Is it the first time you visit Spain?
• Do you have brothers?

These previous sentences are considered total direct interrogative sentences because they all have in common that, by way of answer, we can only answer "yes" or "no".

Faced with the total direct interrogative sentences, we find another group, which receives the name of direct partial interrogative sentences. This type of sentence is characterized by asking for information on some question related to a thing, person, situation, place or event; namely, the answer may be more open and, normally, more extensive, forming at least one noun phrase.

To understand it better, let's look at some examples below of partial direct interrogative sentences:

• When are we going to the movies this week?
• What do you prefer: chocolate or French fries?
• Where are you from?
• What cities in Spain have you visited?
• Can I help you with something, sir?
• How long have you been living in Los Angeles?
• How long have you been working for that Japanese business company?

As we can see, partial direct interrogative sentences allow us to provide more details when constructing an answer with more information, while the total direct interrogative sentences only give us the possibility to answer "yes" or "no".

For this reason, we must always use one or the other depending on the communicative situation in which we are we find and how is the type of information that we need to obtain or give to our interlocutors.

If you want to read more articles similar to Total or Partial Direct Interrogative Sentences - What They Are and Examples, we recommend that you enter our category of Grammar and Linguistics.