How does Cómo turn into 'what?'
I've recently been trying to teach myself Spanish and I have a few questions to ask:
1.) How does 'cómo' become a 'what' in the phrase 'cómo se llama usted?'
2.) How do I know when a word is masculine or feminine?
3.) What is the difference between 'Buenos' and 'Buenas?'
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
5 Answers
Too broad.
I'll answer #1.
It's not that fact that cómo translates to how, it's a matter of how language needs to be understood idiomatically.
Literal translation of ¿cómo se llama usted? says how are you called?
In English, when asking what's your name? we understand this as ¿cómo te llamas? or the other form with usted. Also, we could say ¿cuál es tu nombre?
Language needs to be understood idiomatically. Avoidance of translations is good. Although sometimes is necessary to translate some words, but not the whole sentence, otherwise you'll be translating everything and learn it like robot.
When you (most people) learn a new foreign language there is a common tendancy to want to try to translate everything 'word by word' this is not recommended and should be avoided as much as possible!
Oshnaj is correct ...it is important to understand a language idiomatically following and understanding the idea of what is being said, instead of trying to make sense of every word, missing more than half of what the person is saying, becoming confused and completely missing the point of what they are saying!
Accurately understanding what is being said in another language depends on:
1.Careful listening. ....paying careful attention to the way a speaker is communicating as well as the content of what is being said. All this takes years ot practice! 
2.Understanding/grasping the idea (gist /heart) of what is being said rather than focusing on individual words. It is very easy to home in (focus) on individual words and miss the general idea; many of us including mysrlf have done it the wrong way!
Many years ago, one of my teachers of Spanish, who was married to a Spaniard, told me in a private Spanish class to listen to a conversation on a tape again, carefully paying attention to the whole conversation in Spanish without trying to translate it 'word for word' in my head at the same time!. That was a revelation and a turning point for me! Things didn't improve overnight but gradually I did improve in my ability to understand spoken Spanish.
'cómo se llama usted?
Literally, "How do you call yourself." or "What do you called yourself"
(see cómo in the dictionary here and you will see that it can be translated several different ways, with "how" and "what" being the most frequent.
Common English: What is your name?
Cómo "turns into what" in translation.
In terms of your other two questions...you say you are teaching yourself. Type these questions into google and read some links.
Alternatively you can type your questions into youtube or the search box on the main question page of Spanishdict.
Have fun!
Here is an article I wrote on the subject for my class. When you see it from the Spanish speaker's standpoint, it's easy.
Qué and cuál
Questions with “qué” and “cuál.”
Qué and cuál with the verb “ser”
Use “qué” if you want a definition or to know what something is.
¿Qué es eso/esto?” What is this/that. (Asking what something is.)
¿Qué es “paralipómenos?” What is “paralipómenos?” (Asking for a definition)
¿Qué es un carburador? What is a carburetor? (Asking for a definition)
Use “cuál” when you want information.
¿Cuál es su apellido? What is your family name?
¿Cuáles son los siete días de la semana? What are the seven days of the week?
¿Cuál es el nombre de su profesor de algebra? What is your Algebra teacher’s name?
Qué and Cuál with nouns.
Always use “qué” when the next word is a noun, either singular or plural. Sometimes it is translated “which” in English, sometimes as “what.”
¿Qué día va a regresar Pedro?” What day is Pedro going to return?
¿Qué cosas me traes?” What things are you bringing me?
¿Qué muchacho rompió la ventana? Which boy broke the window ( Note “which” here”
¿Qué chicas van a participar en el concurso de belleza? Which girls are going to participate in the beauty contest. (Again “which” in English)
“Qué” when the next word is a verb.
¿Qué vamos a hacer ahora? What are we going to do now?
¿Qué dijo Alfonso cuando fue arrestado por la policía? What did Alfonso say when he was arrested by the police.?
“Cuál/Cuáles” with “de” plus a noun.
¿Cuáles de los chicos fueron escogidos para particpar en el torneo de fúbol”
Which (ones) of the boys were chosen to participate in the Soccer tournament?
¿Cuál de las hermanas toca la guitarra? Which (one) of the sisters plays the guitar?
I hope that this little article has cleared up some problems regarding “qué” and "cuál."
Hello Ninja,
Welcome to our Spanishdict community forum 
You asked:
I've recently been trying to teach myself Spanish and I have a few questions to ask: 1.) How does 'cómo' become a 'what' in the phrase 'cómo se llama usted?' 2.) How do I know when a word is masculine or feminine? 3.) What is the difference between 'Buenos' and 'Buenas?' Any help would be greatly appreciated!
How does cómo become (come to mean) what?
Words in many languages often have multiple (many / various) meanings which change according to the context! A prime example in English is the word 'get' which has loads of meanings I will mention just a few here!
1."I am going to 'get (recieve) a new bike for Christmas" , said the young boy to his friend at school.
2."Can you 'get' (bring) me the newspaper, please?"
3."We don't 'get' (understand) it " replied the young children
Context determines the meaning when speaking, understanding, and writing in English. It is the same for Spanish.
The word como without an accent can mean as or like...
ex: Es tan alto como su mejor amigo = He is as tall as his best friend.
but with the accent in a question, it can mean how or even what!
eg: ¿Cómo estás tú? = How are you?
¿Cómo te llamas? = What is your name? (Literally: What do you call yourself?)
How to recognize when a word is masculine or feminine.
Basically, and broadly speaking, in Spanish, masculine words usually end in an 'o' and feminine words usually end in an 'a'
eg: niño = boy / niña = girl
Words ending in 'e' are masculine whereas words ending in dad eg ciudad (city), and verdad (true) ; while those ending in ión eg leccion (lesson) are also feminine.
I would recommend that you follow this link to look at the information in the Spanishdict language guide about masculine and feminine nouns: enter link description here
What is the diference between buenos and buenas?
Hopefully you will have already read my notes about masculine and feminine endings for nouns above and read the Spanish dict article about masculine and feminine nouns, so you will already be able to recognize the difference.
Buenos is the masculine version in the plural
You will see it in greetings like:
"¡Buenos días!" = "Good morning!"
Buenas is the equivalent feminine form used to say:
"¡Buenas tardes!" = "Good afternoon /evening!" / "¡Buenas noches!" = "Good night!"
You might even hear some native Spanish speakers simply say "Buenas" which is a more colloquial way to greet somebody.
I hope this helps
Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor
