What is the difference between Como estas? and Como estas tu?
The use of tu
Joseph-C14
October 20, 2013
ricardo-rich
October 21, 2013
Hola Joseph,
One can ask ¿ Como está? or ¿ Como está usted? The "usted" for emphasis and politeness using the formal. But the only thing I can think of with the usage of the informal, ¿Como estás with "tu" after, would be as the adjective "your" Por ejemplo ¿Como estás tu amigo? But ¿ Como estás tú ? doesn't sound right. I'm just a student and perhaps others will chime in on this. I am correcting myself. I believe it would be ¿ Como estás tú? again the pronoun for emphasis.
Saludos,
Rich
ricardo-rich
October 21, 2013
Hola Joseph,
I hope you read my second thoughts regarding your question and that others will reply. Somehow this usage sounds a bit unusual.
Saludos,
Rich
sjlkh
October 22, 2013
When saying ¿Como estas? you are asking how someone is however this conjugation of estar has only one meaning and that is you. You are therefore saying How are you? (informal)
When you are saying ¿Como esta? you are also asking how someone is but that someone could be he or she (the third person) or the second person formal. This second person is "usted". You can see that the esta version has more than one meaning so it is usual to clarify the meaning by adding usted. This is not normal or necessary for the ¿Como estas? version as I have said above, it only has one meaning.
ricardo-rich
October 22, 2013
Hola Sjlkh,
Thank you for your reply . That was exactly what I was stating initially. The "tú" is not used and it seemed odd to me as that is implied with "estás". I second guessed my self and did a search regarding the use of the "tu" after estás and found a couple of examples of using it for emphasis, thus my self correction, which was wrong and not a correction. I doubt the info I found was right.Thanks again for your input and again as I said it just sounded strange.
Saludos a todos,
Rich
ricardo-rich
October 22, 2013
Hola amigos,
An afterthought. It would be great to hear from Cristian Montes de Oca about this.¿Cristian donde estás amigo?
Saludos,
Rich
Patrice-B
October 24, 2013
Hola todos,
Aquí es mi dos centavos. Pienso que Sjlkh es correcto. Siempre yo aprendo en nuestro foro.
Saludos,
Patricia
victoria-rocket-spanish-tutor
November 27, 2013
¡Hola!
The pronoun 'tú' after '¿Cómo estás'? is just used for emphasis. For example, you meet a friend that is having a bad time, he/she greets you with a '¿Cómo estás?' to what you reply 'Bien' (etc.). And then, to show your concern because you know that he/she is not doing great, you ask back '¿Cómo estás tú?'
Also, '¿Cómo estás tú?' is sometimes used to greet a friend after you have already replied to his/her greeting. It sounds strange though if it's used by the first person to greet.
I hope this makes sense!
Saludos,
Victoria
ricardo-rich
November 27, 2013
Hola Victoria,
¡Muchas gracias por la información! Sí tiene sentido y tambien es más claro.
Saludos,
Rich
Cristian-Montes-de-Oca
December 7, 2013
Hola a todos!!!
I was about to answer the question but Victoria just gave the full info about it!!!.
We use it here in Mexico for emphasis and sometimes we use it without distinction, i think its a matter of choice, since both mean basically the same, since "¿Cómo estás? implies the "tú", if youu think about it , you cant ask "¿Cómo estás usted, or ustedes, or yo, it just fits with "tu".
By the way RICH, thanks!!!! i was away for a few months, but im back, and it feels great that you appreaciate my humble answers.
Muchas gracias a todos!
ricardo-rich
December 7, 2013
Hola Cristian,
¡Que bueno has regresado! Me alegro y espero que estés bien amigo.
Saludos,
Rich
Cristian-Montes-de-Oca
December 7, 2013
Hola Ricardo!.
Se siente bien estar de vuelta con ustedes. Su español no deja de sorprenderme , es muy bueno! Felicidades"