Te vs. Se

Question

Tengo la pregunta: When asking a simple question like, "what's you name'" I've learned to say, "como se llama'" (please forgive the no accents, I don't know how to make them). But then yesterday I was listening to a learning CD that said, "como te llama'" I am utterly confused now. When/why do you use te vs. se?

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

If you click on "FAQ", you will be able to find lots of information about how to type the accents.

Your sentence should be either:

¿Cómo se llama? [usted form]
OR
¿Cómo te llamas? [tú form]

For a person you're just meeting, the usted form would probably be used more often than the tú form. You can see more about usted vs. tú if you search the forum.

"¿Cómo te llama'" is just plain wrong, unless the person meant to say, "What does he call you'"

Hmm, interesting. From this answer, it follows that only the usted form ( .... se llama) would be acceptable when asking someone their name, yes? I can't conceive of a situation where I would ask someone I know what his/her name is. Please advise. - Itsmejmy, DIC 10, 2016

Answer 2

Thanks Natasha. That helps alot. I do understand the difference between the use of usted and tu, but I was thrown completely off because I don't understand the reasons behind the use of se and te. Your response helps tremendously. Thanks again.