What does "Qué te ha pasado?" mean?

Question

Hi I was readin a text and I would like to know exactly what what does "Qué te ha pasado?" means. To give the context here is the brief text:

(1st person) !Uy! ?Qué te ha pasado?

(2nd person) Que me he caido de la escalera y me he roto un debo ya ves.......

(1st person) !Vaya! ?Y te duele mucho?

I think it means in this context "What has happened to you?" but why does it use "ha pasado" and not "has pasado" is it because they are being more formal?

Thanks

Answer 1

Yes, "What has happened to you" is correct. The reason it is "te ha pasado" and not "te has pasado" is because the subject is "what" not "you". Hope that makes sense.

Answer 2

I think it means in this context "What has happened to you?" but why does it use "ha pasado" and not "has pasado" is it because they are being more formal?

Because "has pasado" means "you have happened". Would you ask in English "What have you happened?" instead of "What has it happened to you?"?

¿Qué te ha pasado? = What did it happen to you?

¿Qué has pasado? = What did you happen?

Well... it makes not sense in Spanish either. Why is this surprising? It is the same construction in both languages. I'll never understand why people find constructions which are identical to English weird, and they ask why should it not be written in a way that sounds absurd in English.

P.D. I know, "What did it happen to you?" is more common, but I was just making my point.

What happened /has happened to you? not did it happen :) - FELIZ77, Dec 28, 2010