Confused by "como" and "cómo" in Spanish
I am completely missing something here: como estas means "how are you". But "como" is also "I eat"?
8 Answers
There are two "como" words.
In fact "como estas" is not how you write the question "how are you?" but instead you must include the appropriate accent marks. "¿Cómo estás?"
One is a conjugation of the infinitive form of the verb "comer," which is "como" and means "I eat."
The other is an adverb known simply as "cómo" which has various different meanings, but most simply is translated as "how" or "like" or "as."
That isn't to say the adverb "como" without an accent mark doesn't exist, it does, but since cómo estás requires the accent mark, I thought it would be helpful to point out that the accent exists, and perhaps that will help you understand.
Did you know that "estas" means "these?" The accent mark helps distinguish está and esta from one another.
If none of that makes sense, then consider this.
There are a few types of mold in English. One is a fungus, another is a type of plastic, and the other is an action. They are all spelled the same though.
Yes, "¿Cómo está Ud.", as in how are you (formal), has an accent though.(It also does in the informal, "¿Cómo estás?" Como, "I eat" or "I am eating" does not. It is pronounced exactly the same way.
Consider English's they're, their, and there...I know they are all spelled differently, but they sound alike. So, when you are talking to other people, and they say, "There are three chickens in the house," you are not confused by that, right? Why? Because you know "they're" and "their" can't even be followed by "are."
The stronger your vocabulary, the less this will be a problem.
If you know what "estás" and "una manzana cada día" mean, then you will not be confused by como when you hear "¿Cómo estás?" or "Como una manzana cada día."
By the way, in Spanish, if two words sound the same, they are almost always spelled the same...this is often not the case in English.
Another example of homophones in English is "leaves' as in the third person of the verb "to leave"-(She leaves tomorrow) and "leaves" as in the plural noun, "My plant has a lot of falling leaves".
Also consider in English there are many words that have multiple meanings (in this case cómo and como are two different words). But the same word having different meanings is a similar problem.
Look up English words like "get" and see how many meanings it can have.
You don't get it, do you? (get = understand)
Can you get that for me. (get = obtain)
When you get to be my age, you'll understand. (get = reach)
Get out, now! (get out = leave)
You don't have to, you get to. (get = to be allowed to)
.
So, in a way, you could consider how and I eat as two different meanings of the sound como (notice I said sound and not word).
Context is everything, which is why I say a strong vocabulary is important. The more words you know, the more words you'll understand easily because you will know all the surrounding words, too.
You can also say things like...
Cómo como no es asunto tuyo. (How I eat is none of your business.)
But English also has some rare cases like this, too.
I had had to do twice before it worked. (two different hads)
I said that that wouldn't work. (two different thats).
I found it:
Great questions Skykar! Here is another post from the archives that might help, como vs. cómo.
