Asking how are you

Question

Is it correct to ask "Tú cómo estás?" (first person speaking) or should one rather use "cómo estás tú/cómo estás?" (informal conversation)

I know that one would usually ask "Como estas?" and the second person would reply "muy bien, gracias. Y tu...como estas/que tal?" I recently spoke to someone who uses "tu" without the "y" as the first person speaking...just made me wonder

Hello! Welcome to the forum... =) - NikkiLR, May 31, 2012

Good question... - Jota8326, May 31, 2012

Answer 1

You usually don't put "tú" there. It's not incorrect. Just sounds odd to me, but it could be regional.

Saying "muy bien, gracias, y tú cómo estás?" as a reply is perfectly right.

Answer 2

Just as there are in English there are a lot of expressions of greeting, ¿Cómo estás? and ¿Qué tal? only being two of them. Don't be surprised to hear...¿Cómo andas? ¿Qué onda? ¿Qué te encuentras? and I'm sure many more.

And those (The last 3 ones) are not really good Spanish gringojrf. You might hear them, but don't learn them. Why? - farallon7, May 31, 2012

They may be slang. But if you live in Mexico you will here them a lot more often then Como estas? Slang may not be Good Spanish as it is not Good English but it is very useful in day to day living. - gringojrf, May 31, 2012

If you can't recognize them as being the equivalent of Como estas then you are dumbfounded before the conversation even starts. - gringojrf, May 31, 2012

But why learn bad slag? I came to the U.S 14 years ago, and I refuse to use slang! I undestad it but I won't use it! But it is up to everybody! - farallon7, May 31, 2012

I agree with you about using slang. I seldom use it. But the first year I was here in Mexico I was constantly confused by all the greetings I would hear and became tonguetied. So I think it is good to at least recognize the greetings you are very ... - gringojrf, May 31, 2012

....likely to hear in the streets, malls, restuarants and bars. - gringojrf, May 31, 2012

Answer 3

I agree with DualG.... In the sentence ¿Tú cómo estás? "Tú" is redundant... so you have to say:

¿Cómo estás?, ¿estás bien?, ¿cómo va eso?, ¿qué tal?, ¿cómo te va todo?

and you can answer:

Bien, gracias, ¿y tú?...

Answer 4

I haven't heard that phrase used before. If you say ¿Tú cómo estas? it's kind of repetitive, because "estas" is already conjugated in the Tú form so it's already understood. I personally would just say ¿Cómo estas? (Informal)... or ¿Cómo está usted? for a formal situation. Both of these sayings will be understood everywhere.

Answer 5

I don't know about Castillian (Spain) Spanish but in most Latin American countries it would be:

¿Comó estás? --informal

¿Comó está usted? --formal

And if you were replying informally to, let's say your friend, the conversation would go somewhat like this:

¡Hola! ¿Comó estás hoy? -- Hi! How are you today?

Muy bien. ¿Y tú, Comó estás? --Very good. How are you? (You don't have to even put comó estás on the end which would bring the literal translation to just "and you" Just like in English, there are many ways to say "how are you" E.g. what's up? "¿Qué pasa? for instance)

I don't think it would be correct to put tú at the beginning of the sentence because it is redundant. It's like saying. You, how are you? Doesn't sound right but it is possible what DualG said about it being a regional thing. Hope this helps clear it up

Not to be picky, no biggie, but it should be "cómo" - Jota8326, May 31, 2012

Wow thanks :) I just realized my mistake. Gracias amigo - MeLlamoWaverly, Jun 1, 2012

Answer 6

To the guerro, gringo untrained ear…it often sounds like the Spanish native is saying, “tù cómo estás ? Since Spanish is spoken a bit faster than English…this slight of tongue often happens. When spoken very quickly, the y can slip by undetected.Most of the time, they are saying…¿ y tú, cómo estás? When however, a person says, ¿Cómo estás tú? The tú is not an error. What is happening is that the native Spanish speaker is being more emphatic or demonstrative. They are deliberately drawing more attention to the fact that they are talking to , and addressing you (tú). Good luck. I hope this helps. Viejito

viejito, Spanish is not really spoken faster than English (Unless from Puerto) It sounds faster because you do not understand at the speed of speech. - farallon7, May 31, 2012

Answer 7

como estas

¿Cómo estás? Bien, y tú? - Jota8326, May 31, 2012

Answer 8

This reminds me of a Puerto Rican who said "¿Qué tú haces? (What are you doing?) instead of ¿Qué haces tú? I thought it sounded wrong, but she insisted that's how they would/could say it in Puerto Rico. Normally in statements, the subject pronoun comes before the verb, if it is used at all, for example for emphasis (Tú hiciste la tarea). In questions, normally the verb precedes the subject pronoun (question inversion) (¿Hiciste tú la tarea?). With interrogatives, like qué, cómo, etc., it sounds even more odd to me (¿Cómo tú estás? vs. ¿Cómo estás tú?) I realize the subject pronouns are redundant and added for emphasis. Is this just a Puerto Rican thing? Any native Puerto Rican Spanish-speakers out there? The above was a good question that reminded me of this debate...