Breakdown of ¿Qué te pasa? Tienes mala cara.
malo
bad
tener
to have
la cara
the face
¿qué te pasa?
what's wrong (with you)?
Questions & Answers about ¿Qué te pasa? Tienes mala cara.
Why does this use pasar? Doesn't it mean 'to pass'?
Pasar does mean 'to pass,' but it is also the standard verb for 'to happen.' The phrase ¿Qué te pasa? literally translates to 'What is happening to you?' and is the most common way to ask 'What's wrong?' in Spanish.
Why is the pronoun te used before pasa?
Here, te is an object pronoun meaning 'to you.' The subject of the verb is actually qué (what). So, instead of saying 'What is wrong with you?', Spanish speakers literally ask 'What happens to you?' (¿Qué te pasa?).
Tienes mala cara literally translates to 'You have a bad face.' Is that an insult?
Why does the adjective mala come before cara? I thought adjectives go after the noun.
Usually, descriptive adjectives do go after the noun. However, common adjectives like bueno (good) and malo (bad) often come before the noun, especially in fixed, everyday expressions like tener mala cara or tener buena cara (to look well).
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