Por favor, ¿podría decirme a qué hora sale el próximo vuelo para
Barcelona?
Could you please tell me what time the next flight for Barcelona is
leaving?Note that, with longer sentences, the tendency in Spanish is to place the phrase por
favor in initial position rather than at the end of the sentence. With shorter sentences,
this goes in initial or final position.¿Dónde está el ayuntamiento, por favor? or Por favor, ¿dónde está el
ayuntamiento?
Where is the town hall, please?31.3.2 Indirect questions
Dígame/nos (polite) and dime/nos (familiar), ‘tell me/us’, from decir, ‘to tell’, are used
in indirect questions in sentences like the following:Dígame qué le pasa.
Tell me what’s wrong with you.
Dime qué te dijo.
Tell me what he/she said to you.Dinos dónde están.
Tell us where they are. 18.3.1 (p. 91)
Note that the interrogative word after dígame/nos or dime/nos keeps the accent.1.5.3 (p. 8);^12 (p. 48)
31.4 Negative questions
A negative question often conveys no more than the expectancy of a negative response,
as in¿No entiende el español?‘Doesn’t he/she’ or ‘don’t you understand Spanish?’
But a speaker will sometimes use a negative question to convey surprise or annoyance,
for example:¿Todavía no has terminado?
Haven’t you finished yet? (meaning you ought to have finished
by now)¿Aún no lo has hecho?
You still haven’t done it? (meaning you ought to have done it by now).15.6 (p. 58)
31.5 Responding to a question with another question
When the question being asked needs clarification, we may respond to it with another
question.ASKING QUESTIONS AND RESPONDING 31.4