Grammar - What is Your Name?

¿Cómo se llama?

This is a more polite way to ask someone their name or, in other words, it a more formal and/or a business appropriate way of asking. A younger person would also use this to ask an older person their name or any person who is considered as a higher ranking person such as a potential new employer.

¿Cómo te llamas?

This format is normally used with a child or with someone of equal social status at an informal occasion as it is a more friendly way to ask.

¿Cuál es tu nombre? and ¿Cuál es su nombre?

Generally when this is asked you are asking for the person’s first name. When you use tu it is less formal and when you use su it is more formal. Although both of these are correct ways of asking a person’s name, they are by far less frequently used by native speaking Spanish people.

When you are uncertain of which version to use to ask a person their name, the most commonly used version is that of ¿Cómo te llamas? and it would easily be acceptable in any given situation. However, understanding the different ways of asking is important as you become more fluent in the language and because you may hear it said in any one of these ways.

Learning to ask someone their name comes with a few vocabulary words that you might not yet be familiar with. These vocabulary words include the following.

Providing An Answer

Okay, now that you can ask the question you need to know how to answer the question. Again, there is more than one way to answer that will be directly related to how you ask the question.

• Me llamo es Davíd. This means: I call myself David.
• Mi nombre es Davíd. This means: My name is David.
• Él se llama Davíd. This means: He calls himself David.
• Ella se llama Ana. This means: She calls herself Ann.
• Su nombre es Davíd. This means: His name is David.
• Su nombre es Ana. This means: Her name is Ann.

If you ask someone for their name and you use the verb llamar then they will respond with using llama in their answer and if you use nombre they will respond with nombre.

Before proceeding to the quiz section, if you have not already taken the Spanish Easy Review quiz titled What is My Spanish Name, you should check that quiz out as you will need to be using the Spanish names found in that quiz. Do not forget any accent marks that might be needed in either your question or the answer. Forgetting an accent mark could mean your answer would be wrong.

In the next ten questions and/or sentences you will either need to determine which would be the most correct way to ask a person their name in the given situation or which would be the most correct way to answer the question given the situation. Again, pay attention to any names that might be used as well. So if you are ready - then begin the quiz!