Spanish Phrase
¿Con quién hablaste?
Meaning
The sentence asks the listener to identify the person they talked with in a past conversation. It is informal because it uses the second‑person singular preterite ‘hablaste’. The question is neutral in tone and can be used in everyday conversation.
When to use
Use this question when you want to know who someone spoke with earlier in the day, after a meeting, or after hearing that a conversation took place. It works best in informal settings with friends, classmates, or colleagues you address as ‘tú’. For a formal context you would say ‘¿Con quién habló?’
✦Grammar Breakdown
¿Conquiénhablaste?
Con (preposition)
‘Con’ means ‘with’ and is used before people or things to indicate accompaniment.
quién (interrogative pronoun)
‘Quién’ (with an accent) asks about a person; it always carries an accent in questions and exclamations.
hablaste (preterite, 2nd person singular)
‘hablaste’ is the preterite form of ‘hablar’ for ‘tú’. It refers to a completed action in the past.
Question inversion
In Spanish, the subject pronoun can be omitted and the verb placed after the interrogative phrase, as in ‘¿Con quién hablaste?’
🗨In Conversation
¿Con quién hablaste?
With whom did you talk?
Hablé con María en la cafetería.
I talked with María in the cafeteria.
✕Common Mistakes
¿Con quien hablaste?
Interrogative pronouns must have an accent; ‘quien’ without an accent is a relative pronoun, not a question word.
¿Con quién habló?
‘habló’ is the third‑person singular (or formal ‘usted’) form. Use ‘hablaste’ only when speaking to ‘tú’. If you need a formal tone, change the whole sentence to ‘¿Con quién habló?’
↔Alternatives
¿Con quién conversaste?
With whom did you converse?
¿Con quién estuviste hablando?
With whom were you talking?
¿Con quién hablaba?
With whom were you talking? (imperfect aspect)
Cultural Tip
In Spanish, interrogative pronouns (qué, quién, cuál, etc.) always carry an accent, even when they appear inside a longer phrase: ‘¿Con quién hablaste?’ not ‘¿Con quien hablaste?’. Also, the preterite ‘hablaste’ signals a completed conversation; if you want to stress the ongoing nature of the talk, use the imperfect or progressive forms (e.g., ‘estabas hablando’). Finally, remember that ‘hablar’ can be both ‘to speak’ (a language) and ‘to talk’ (with someone), so context matters.