What is the difference between qué and que? Is there one?

This has been bugging me for awhile, I have tried to get a straight answer in many different places, and so far, no luck.  I know how important accents are for so many words, if you miss the accent,  you wind up with an entirely different word.

This does not seem to apply to "Qué."  Can anyone give me a clue when to use the accent and when not to, and what is the difference?  Is there one, is there a grammar rule that so far has eluded me?
Thanks in advance for any help.

KMJ

I believe the accented qué is a question word, "what" while the unaccented que is a connector word (preposition). I have noticed the same thing with other question words, i.e. they are always accented.

Interestingly, I was awarded 100 points (as expected) for answering this post and then a second later the points were taken away.

Hola a todos,

This link is about qué vs. que:   http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/200685/que-and-qu Hope it's helpful.

Saludos,
Ricardo


 

Qué/que is the duct tape of the Spanish language. It can be used for many different purposes. 

I recall when I realized that qué and que were different words with different uses, similar to está/esta/ésta. It was quite confusing until I worked it all out.

HI all!

Thanks so much,  this is very helpful.  I am going to be spending a good chunk of my day wrestling the two meanings down, and now I have some tools, it is greatly appreciated.

Robert  --  Sorry your points disappeared, your answer was great.  Someone find Roberts points for him!