why se?

Alice D.A1Kwiziq community member

why se?

Why is it 'como se llama' or 'como se llama usted' - not 'como te llama'?

Asked 3 months ago
InmaKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hola Alice

This is because using the informal you (tú) or the formal you (usted) means that you don't just swap from tú to usted, but it comes with changing the conjugation too and for verbs that are used with a pronoun, i.e reflexive verbs, you need to apply the correct pronoun there too. The verb llamarse is one of these reflexive verbs that is used with these pronouns, so you need:

Yo me llam

te llamas

Él / Ella / Usted se llama

Nosotros nos llamamos

Vosotros os llamáis

Ellos / Ustedes se llaman

You can see here that each subject has a specific reflexive pronoun.

This lesson about reflexive verbs in the present will help you understand it a bit better. 

Saludos cordiales

Inma

why se?

Why is it 'como se llama' or 'como se llama usted' - not 'como te llama'?

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Clever stuff happening!