Learn Spanish (Spain): ¿Cómo se llama tu perro?

¿Cómo se llama tu perro?

What is your dog called?

Breakdown of ¿Cómo se llama tu perro?

himself / herself / themselves (reflexive)

Questions & Answers about ¿Cómo se llama tu perro?

Why do we use cómo (how) when the English translation asks "what"?

In Spanish, when asking for a name, we use the verb llamarse, which literally means to call oneself. The sentence translates word-for-word as "How does your dog call itself?". That is why we use cómo (how) instead of qué (what).

What is the word se doing in this sentence?

se goes with the verb llama to show that the action reflects back on the subject (the dog). It is called a reflexive pronoun. In English, it acts like "itself" in the literal translation "How does your dog call itself?".

Why doesn't tu have an accent mark over the "u" here?

In Spanish, tú with an accent mark means "you" (as a subject, like "you are"). Without the accent mark, tu means "your". Since we are saying "your dog" here, we use the possessive version without the accent.

Can I change the order and say ¿Cómo tu perro se llama?

You will almost always hear native speakers keep the question word (cómo) and the verb (se llama) together. In Spanish questions, it is standard grammar for the subject (tu perro) to come directly after the verb.