Question words: quem, o que, onde, quando, por que, como, quanto

Imagine living in Brazil and not being able to ask where's the bathroom? or what time is dinner? — total disaster, right?
Question words are super common in conversation, whether you're chatting with friends, shopping, going to the doctor, or trying to understand the lyrics of a Brazilian song.
Mastering them makes you feel fluent faster and helps you survive everyday interactions with locals.

Good news first: in Portuguese you don't need any "do" or "does," and subject–verb inversion is optional in Brazilian Portuguese. You take a normal sentence and drop a question word in front of it. That's basically the whole trick.

The Question Words

QUEM — who/whom

For asking about people:

• Quem é você? (Who are you?)

• Quem fala inglês aqui? (Who speaks English here?)

• Com quem você mora? (Who do you live with?)

"Quem" never changes — it covers both "who" and "who all."

Everyday Conversations

• "Quem é esse?" (Who's that?)

• "O que é isso?" (What's this?)

• "Cadê a chave do carro?" (Where's the car key?)

• "Como a gente faz isso?" (How do we do this?)

• "Quando é a próxima aula?" (When's the next class?)

• "Por que você não gosta de café?" (Why don't you like coffee?)

WhatsApp / Texts

• "vc tá onde?" (where r u?)

• "pq não quer vir?" (why don't u wanna come?)

• "qdo vc chega?" (when do u arrive?)

The Four "Porquês" — Brazil's Favorite Spelling Trap

Even Brazilians trip on this one. The good news: at A1 you really only need the first two.

1. Por que (two words) — "why" in direct and indirect questions:

   • "Por que você está aqui?" (Why are you here?)

   • "Não sei por que ele faz isso." (I don't know why he does that.)

2. Porque (one word) — "because", to give a reason or explanation:

   • "Estou aqui porque quero." (I'm here because I want to be.)

3. Por quê (two words + accent) — the same "why", with tonic quê at the end of a clause or before a pause:

   • "Você não gosta, por quê?" (You don't like it — why?)

"Onde" once meant "from where." It comes from the Latin unde ("whence"), the word Romans used for origin — while plain, static "where" was a different word, ubi. As unde drifted into meaning simple location, Portuguese had to rebuild the lost nuance, which is exactly why today you add bits on: aonde (a + onde) for "to where" and de onde / donde for "from where."

Sources: Dicio, Infopédia