One of the most frequent mistakes for Spanish learners is mixing up when to use pedir and preguntar. Although both verbs have a similar English equivalent, their uses in Spanish are quite different.
Let’s take a look!
We use Pedir to mean “to request”, “to order” or “to ask for a favor”:
- ¿Pedimos pizza para la cena? Should we order pizza for dinner?
- Pedro me pidió que lo llevara al aeropuerto. Pedro asked me to give him a ride to the airport.
- Pídele ayuda; es buena para las matemáticas. Ask her for help; she’s good at Math.
On the other hand, we use Preguntar when we want to ask a question or to ask for information:
- ¿Le preguntaste a qué hora empieza la película? Did you ask her what time the movie starts?
- Ellos me preguntaron dónde está la biblioteca. They asked me about the location of the library.
- Durante el viaje Juan me preguntó constantemente: ¿ya llegamos? During the trip Juan asked constantly: are we there yet?