Does como se dice mean what is this?
i heard it being said and i kind of guessed the meaning but im not sure.
4 Answers
How is _______ said?
How do you say _______?
You got the meaning from the context, and that meaning is right. Literally, it's more like, "How is ___ said?' (Thanks, Izanoni1) but you use it just like you'd use "What's this?". It's used to get someone to tell you what something is called, so in practical terms it is the same.
This happens a lot. In English we'd say, "My name is ___" and in Spanish it's "Me llamo ___", which is literally "I'm called ___" and not "My name is ___", but in practical terms, it's the same thing because it's used the same way - to tell someone your name. So there is sometimes a slight difference between the literal and practical translations.
The thing you have to watch out for is assuming that the words translate directly. If you incorrectly assume that "Me llamo..." translates literally to "My name's..." then you could end up thinking that "llamo" means "name", and it doesn't. Especially at first, don't assume that a phrase translates word-for-word.
That was probably more answer than you were looking for wasn't it?!
It basically means "how do you say".
¿Cómo se dice dog en Español?
or
How do you say dog in Spanish?
Believe me, it is a survival phrase when traveling to Spanish speaking countries!!
I read it as "What are you saying?"
