"¿Qué tienes?" as "what's wrong?"

Question

Amigos - ¡Hola!

Tengo una pregunta para Uds. esta mañana...

Ayer, yo escuchaba a dos chicas mexicanas (en EEUU) hablando (eran amigas), y una dijo a la otra, "¿Qué tienes, chica?"

-- ahora, yo pensaba "what do you have?"--- PERO entonces la otra amiga respondió,

"ahhh, nada.. no lo sé.. siento poco mal..." (o algo similar).

Estaba un poquito confudido. Es "¿Qué tienes?" una otra manera de decir "what's wrong?" En caso afirmativo, ¡me gusta!

Hi friends! I have a question for you all this morning. Yesterday, I was listening to two mexican-american girls talking (they were friends), y one said to the other "¿Qué tienes, chica?" -- now, I was thikning "what do you have?" -- BUT then the other friend responded "eh, nothing.. I don't know... I feel kinda bad..." (or something like that) I was a little bit confused. Is ¿Qué tienes? another way of saying "what's wrong?" If so, I like it!

Gracias, compaños.

Some really great responses here, guys. I'm glad I asked! - RedLine55, Mar 13, 2012

Answer 1

It is used as a way of asking "what's bothering you? or what's wrong?" It is used like this in Mexico. It is more casual than "¿Estás molesta?"

Gracias, Gringo! And for a native English speaker, I'm WAY more likely to ask "Que tienes?" now than use "molesta"... I know it's childish, but I hate that word! ha - RedLine55, Mar 13, 2012

I completely agree RedLine! I don't like "molesta" either. Glad to know there is another way to say what's wrong :))) - t1funnyface, Mar 13, 2012

ha, so funny. I try to avoid it at all costs, even if it sounds perfectly normal to a spanish speaker. - RedLine55, Mar 13, 2012

Answer 2

My Colombian girlfriend uses that phrase as well. It could be interpreted as "What's the matter?", "Whats wrong?", or even "How are you feeling?", when there is a noticible condition. Let me explain the latter with an example:

Example #1: -"Que tienes?" (How are you feeling?)

-"Tengo muchisimo sueño hoy....no me puedo despertar" (I am really sleepy today, I can't wake up.)

Example #2: -"Que tienes?" (How are you feeling?)

-"Pienso que estoy un poco enfermo..." (I think I am a little sick)

Hope that helped some! Enjoy Spanish!

Excellent response - thank you! You should answer more often! - RedLine55, Mar 13, 2012

Answer 3

Hello RedLine. Yes, you're absolutely 'spot on'! "¿Qué tienes?" does mean, 'what's wrong or what's the matter? So...problem solved! Kind regards...Jool.

Answer 4

Que tienes

Que traes

Que paso

Que te paso

Que onda

Que pedo / (Que pex..written in text form)

Que dice

Que dices

Excellent... some great responses here! - RedLine55, Mar 13, 2012

Answer 5

¿Qué tienes? In Mexican Spanish, this expression means, What's the matter, what happen? what's wrong?

• In other Spanish speaking countries it means, "What do you have?" And the equivalent to the Mexican expression is, "Qué te pasa?" This is the expression I use!
• The are other expression that I have heard from my Mexican friends that had confused me in the pass, like,
• "¿Qué pasó? or ¿Qué pasa?" For me he/she was asking, "What happen/ed? but in Mexico this is, "What's up?, How is it going?, so of course I was like, "About what?

jaja, that's a great comment! I've also been confused by the "pasó" use in this context. And I asked someone "then what would you use to ask, "what happened?" and he said, "ummm... qué pasó probably" haha.. so it is what it is! - RedLine55, Mar 13, 2012

Ja ja ja! You are right! How do you ask "What happen?" Hmm, we need someone from Mexico that can tell us! - farallon7, Mar 13, 2012

Answer 6

Hi RedLine. It may be asked in different ways,
You have to spend?
That happens to you?
and many more.

That's interesting. Can you give a quick example of one of those other meanings in context? Thanks! - RedLine55, Mar 13, 2012

Answer 7

Gracias, hombres!

Aprecio sus respuestas. Después de pregunté, busqué la internet para la frase y encontré este buen sitio con muchas frases mexicanas. Mexican Guru - Click me

¿Saben este sitio? Me pregunto cuantas frases son populares en realidad. ¿Saben? Claro, hay muchas, pero me gustaría saber si unas de estas frases estan usadas frecuentamente o raramente.

Gracias de nuevo, amigos.