Qué tan vs Cuán

Qué tan vs Cuán
 

People,

Here is an old confusion of mine that I was just reminded of while perusing through Youtube.

"How ..."

How hard is it? How long is it?

I have found ways around it, so to speak. For "How far is it to the ...?" I say something like "Cuál es la distancia hasta la proxima gasolinera?

And sometimes I use "cuan" to say something like: "!Cuan difícil es!á". But this structure seems to be poetic and a bit formal.

But Spanish has a parallel to thiis English sture using "how" by saying somethiink like what \I saw in Youtube this morninng. I saw something like this: "?Qué tan fuerte es el poderío militar Venizolano?".

Is "Qué tan ..." a nice way of structuring a question"?

I ask because I have hardly ever heard it before, but I have run across it now and then.

But I never really used it because I never heard it very often, due to the lack of frequency. I say this although in English, a structure with "how" would be my first resort.

Silopanna/Dean

Although I am not a native Spanish speaker, qué tan is the logical of proposing the question. How else can you gracefully frame the question? Cuál es la fuerza de sounds more awkward to me. ¿Qué tal la fuerza militaria? ¿Fuerte? seems like stretching it to me.

qué tan is a synonym of cuán

By the way, that "qué tan fuerte es el poderio..." looks so Spanglishy to me.

In Latin America

¿Qué tan (kinda informal)/ Cuán (kinda formal) poderosas son las fuerzas armadas venezolanas?

Also

How hard is it?
¿Cuán difícil es?
¿Cuánto esfuerzo se necesita/lleva?

remember: cuán before adjectives and adverbs, cuánto before all other elements

¿cuán caro es? or ¿cuán oneroso es? (if you are the Marquis du Pipí-Cucú) and ¿cuánto cuesta/sale? (if you are Juan Pérez)

How long is it?
¿Cuánto dura? (time)
¿Cuánto mide [de largo]? (length)

AleCcowaN,

I imagine it was "Spanglishy".

To tell the truth, I can't imagine what is happening to the Spanish language in the United States, but I'm sure it isn't anything good.

I'm sure that Cervantes is rolling over in his tomb! (Revolcandose en la tumba?)

If California were to fall into the ocean, I think it would do the Spaniish language a lot of good.

Later!

Silopanna/Dean

@Dean: Don't worry about the Spanish language in the USA. Spanglish is probably going to become a language by itself, which is not necessarily a bad thing... after all, that's how Spanish was born. We just might not see the day when they start systematizing its structures and principles. ;)

Cervantes se revuelve en su tumba.

Sólo Zombie Cervantes puede revolcarse en su tumba (o la tumba de otro)

revolcarse = to roll around / to wallow (non figuratively)

In Mexico "revolcarse en la tumba" is the usual expression. :D

Here it's the most common mistaken way to say it too. But, to use an example in American English, it's like saying these (which I heard many times this year)

That doesn't pass constitutional mustard
This renders the question mute

but I agree they might amend the dictionaries and make revolcarse, mustard and mute correct in their contexts, like they did with modisto and irregardless.

This situation made me nauseous:D, but now I could care less.:D