¿Cómo que cómo?

This is an expression you'll want to be familar with. 

Don't try to come up with a literal translation, it just won't work.  This is something you'll have to memorize.

Let's look at a simple conversation to figure out what this means.

Esposa:  Amor,  ¿puedes lavar los trastes?
Esposo:  Bueno, pues, es que no sé como lavar los trastes.
Esposa:  ¿Cómo que no sabes lavar los trastes?

If you don't know, "trastes" are dishes.  And "lavar los trastes" is to wash the dishes.  So what does washing dishes have to do with today's phrase you ask?  Let's get back to our conversation to find out.

The key to this is the last sentence in our dialog:

¿Cómo que no sabes lavar los trastes?
What do you mean you don't know how to wash the dishes?

This is clearly an unexpected surprise to our beloved wife.  But she could have expressed her surprise a little differently:

¿Cómo que cómo?
What do you mean you don't know how?

¿Cómo que cómo? is just a shortened way to express surprise. 

Someone asks a question you just can't believe:

¡Cómo es posible que preguntes eso!

You can shorten that to...

¿Cómo que cómo?


You can use this same structure to ask:

¿Cómo que qué?
What do you mean "what"?

¿Cómo que dónde?
What do you mean "where"?

¿Cómo que cuándo?
What do you mean "when"

¿Cómo que para qué?
What do you mean "for what"?

That's it!  Pan comido right?

¡Hasta la próxima!

¿Cuánto vale?

I remember the first time I heard this, I was in a book store in Mexico looking for a Spanish dictionary.  Oddly enough, I had a hard time finding a pure Spanish dictionary at home.  But I digress.

I took my dictionary to the counter and asked "¿cuánto cuesta?" just like my Spanish book taught me.  That's when the attendant looked at me and said "¿cuánto vale?"  Then she proceeded to tell me the price of the book.

At first I thought I said something wrong and found myself pretty confused for a few seconds.  Luckily it wasn't hard to figure out what it meant, but I was stuck with the feelings of confusion and doubt until I got back home and my Spanish tutor got me all straightened out. 

It turns out that "¿cuánto vale?"  is just another way to ask the price of something.  It's used universally, not just in Mexico, so you're likely to hear it somewhere down the line.

There are a few other ways to ask the price of something, so let's take a quick look at them.

¿Cuánto sale?
How much does that come out to?

¿Cuánto es?
How much is it?

¿Cuánto le debo?
How much do I owe you?

Since we're on the subject, I talked about costar before, and you can click here to read about that.  It's used in a very common expression and has a another usage that you definitely want to know about, so be sure to take a moment and look over that post.

¡Hasta pronto!

Sí o sí, voy a aprender español

Today's post is going to help you in two ways.  Number one, you're going to learn something new.  Well, at least I hope so.  Number two, and perhaps the most important thing, is I'm going to save you from making the same mistake I did.

Let's start with #2, not making the same mistake I did.
It all started when I said to my friend "Si me mata, voy a aprender español".

The she politely said "¿Cómo?".  We were in a slightly noisy restaurant so I thought she didn't hear me, and I said it again a little louder.  Unfortunately, I got the same response.  That's when I started to get suspicious.  Well, that and the confused look in her face.

I was close, but no cigar.  The correct way to say this is:

voy a aprender español aunque eso me mate
I'm going to learn Spanish even if it kills me

You also have a few other options: "aunque me muera" or "así me muera". 

voy a aprender español aunque me muera

OR

voy a aprender español aunque así me muera

In these last two examples the translation is actually "even if I die", instead of "if it kills me", but it works just the same.

No it's time to move on to #1, learning something new.


Things got a little more interesting when I found out there's another option that was just as good, if not better to express what I wanted to say-  "sí o sí". 

Yes or yes

This is another one of those times where a literal translation is a little clumsy.  A better translation would be "no matter what". "

So with that in mind....

Sí o sí, voy a aprender español
No matter what, I'm going to learn Spanish

Here's a few other examples I dug up you may find useful:

El informe hay que terminarlo sí o sí
The report has to be finished no matter what

 Necesito esas facturas sí o sí mañana a primera hora
I need those bills first thing tomorrow morning no matter what

It never surprises me how many little things like this there are to learn that will help your Spanish sound just a little more natural.

Hasta pronto