How do you say, "What's your name?'
A new girl moved here and doesn't speak Spanish. I'm trying to talk to her. I'm trying to learn her name.
6 Answers
the most common is "¿Cómo te llamas?"
¿Cómo te llamas? personal
¿Cómo se llama? formal
Both of the above questions are literally asking, "What do you call yourself"? Because llamas and llama are both conjugations of llamar, which means, to call. However those forms are commonly used to ask somebody their name.
If you wanted to say, I call myself... , you would say,
Me llamo.....
Feliz did give a good answer, however I thought I might clarify that their is a difference between saying I call myself ........ and saying my name is.
If I litteraly wanted to say my name is, I would say,
Mi nombre es ...
If you litteraly wanted to say, what is your name, you would say,
¿Cuál es tu nombre? personal
¿Cuál es su nombre? formal
However that is more interrigative and is not heard as often. But if you do hear it, you won't be confused by knowing the difference. You might even hear it like so,
¿Tu nombre?
¿Su nombre?
Thought I might save you some confusion, for when you hear the variables.
Hello Lily and Welcome to the SpanishDictforum
Spanish 1 ¿Cómo te llamas? If you are talking to a friend/someone you know well or a child, or someone younger than you
2 ¿Cómo se llama Ud? If you are talking to an older person, a stranger or someone in authority
In case she might speak French:
French 1 : Comment vous appelez-vous? = What is your name? This is the french formal form (equivalent to ¿Cómo se llama Ud? ) used to address people you do not know/older people
French 2 Comment t'appeles-tu? The informal form to address friends and people you know well, people younger than you and children
Brazilian Portuguese: Cual é o seu nome? = What is your name? Como (você) se chama? What is your name?
I would encourage you to listen to the Spanish lessons available here on video clips presented by our qualified teacher Paralee Whitmire I believe she mentions questions like that in her first lesson. Here is a link to the lessons link text
We also have many other excellent resources such as the phrase book where you can type in your requested phrase/s and you will be taken to a page with words and phrases linked to your requested phrase written in Spanish and English. All the phrases are checked by a team of fluent and advanced speakers before being accepted.
I hope this helps
Hi Lilly, What is your native language. ¿Cuál es su lengua materna?
hi friends,
the equivalent for "name" in spanish is "nombre". so, in a literal way we can ask other 's name by just asking " ¿Qué es tu nombre? = what is your name?".
but there is a common expression in spanish language that is used in such situation, that is, using the "llamarse"= To be called". since verbs are conjugated and also there is a formal (more polit way) and informal way of addressing someone else, asking somebody 's name also has a formal and informal way(like in friendly situation).
for formal way, the third person form of the verb is used.
so, "me llamo = I am called" "te llamas = you are called" "se llama = he/she is called"
also "cómo" means "how"
therefor, for asking one 's name, we can say
"cómo te llamas" > for informal situation
and
"cómo se llama" > for formal situation.
¿Cómo se llama? (for Usted form) y ¿Cómo te llamas? ( for Tú form)
