quién

See also: quien

Asturian

Pronoun

quién

1. (interrogative pronoun) who (which person?, which persons?)

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin quem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkjen/ [ˈkjẽn]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -en
• Syllabification: quién

Pronoun

quién (interrogative, plural quiénes)

1. who?, whom?; (with “de”) whose?

   ¿Con quién hablo?

   With whom am I speaking?

   ¡Quién lo hubiera creído!

   Who would have believed it!?

   ¿De quién es este libro?

   Whose book is this?

   ¿Quién enseña la clase?

   Who teaches the class?

   ¿Quién carajo es Kevin?

   Who the hell is Kevin?

   No sabe quién ha llamado

   He doesn't know who has called

2. (followed by a subjunctive clause in the imperfect or pluperfect tense) if only; I wish

   ¡Quién tuviera veinte años!

   How I wish I was twenty!

   ¡Quién hubiera tocado la lotería!

   If only I'd won the lottery!

Usage notes

• The relative pronoun quien is written without the accent mark.

Derived terms

• quién lo diría
• quién va
• quién vive

 

Further reading

• “quién”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10