What is the difference between 'como' and 'cómo'?

Question

Is there a difference between 'como' and 'cómo'? I'm confused. It's supposed to be two different words, right? Where do I draw the line?

When I look up how it says that it's both 'como' and 'cómo'.

Answer 1

It's actually a good bit more than two words, but it's easiest to think when to use the accent then when not to.

• como (no accent) can be used as a verb (from comer), noun (dated word meaning a trick), adverb, conjunction, or preposition.

• cómo (accent) can mean either the interrogative/relative pronoun how? (¿Cómo estás? No sé cómo lo haces.) or can be used to express incredulity where English uses what? (¿Cómo?). The moment you hear yourself giving a questioning intonation, you'll accent it.

There is a well known phrase, ¿Cómo como? Como como como. which uses three of these. The first is the question How?, the second, third, and fifth are the verb I eat, and the fourth is like/as. So... How do I eat? I eat like I eat.

But you can extend it further adding in the incredulous cómo and get ¿Cómo cómo como? Como como como. to mean "What do you mean how do I eat?! I eat like I eat."

Answer 2

• 'Cómo': how. It is often used to make questions

• 'Como': as, like, such as.

So you would say:

Eres tan bueno como él _{You are as good as him.}

Es como un gran monstruo _{It is like a big monster}

Eres como un genio _{You are such as a genious}

Answer 3

¿Cómo como? ¡Como como como! _{How do I eat? I eat the way I eat!}

• The first como (the one with the accent) is the word "how", introducing a question.
• The second como is "I eat".
• So is the third and fifth one.
• The fourth como is "the way". It is like the first one except that it's used in an indication, while the first one is used to introduce a question.

I heard this as a sort of light hearted joke in SA.

Answer 4

• (Yo) 'como' = I eat

• 'Cómo' = how

The accent mark tells you whether it's referring to the verb 'comer' or the auxiliar 'how'.

Examples:

Siempre como en casa antes de ir al colegio _{I always eat at home before going to school}

¿Cómo estás? _{How are you?}

Answer 5

• '(Yo) Como' = I eat

It comes from the verb 'comer'. It is the 'yo' form present tense.

• 'Cómo' = How

Sometimes when people want to say how in Spanish, they can say 'Cómo'. One expression that has 'cómo' is:

¿Cómo estás? _{How are you?}