The colloquial phrase “cómo tienes” is formed by the combination of the interrogative adverb “cómo” and the irregular verb “tener” and its meaning depends on the context of the sentence as it can be either interrogative or exclamatory.
Interrogative because it wants to know the situation or value of something, for example “how do you have the wound” or exclamatory, usually in an admiring way, for example “how do you have that!
SYNONYMS FOR Cómo Tienes
- How do you maintain
- How do you get
- How you own
- To how you have it
- To how much you have it
- To how much you get
ORIGIN OF Cómo Tienes
The origin of “cómo” comes from the Latin quomodoy and is used in an interrogative form, either to know the state of something, of a situation, of a reason, of a circumstance, etc.
On the other hand, “tienes” comes from the Latin tenere and its use depends on the context in which the phrase is constructed since it can refer to possession, dominion, conservation, precision or even estimation.
CURIOSITIES OF Cómo Tienes
The general use of this phrase is generally reserved in a commercial monetary context where the interrogative formula seeks the answer to a certain value or price, for example “how do you have the price of a tomato”.
It is important to note that it can also be used interrogatively in the case of clearing a doubt of reputational or moral type, for example “how do you have the nerve to ask something like that?”, “how do you have the guts to dare to do something like that?”, etc.
However, it is also used colloquially as an exclamatory and admiring formula as a compliment when observing someone attractive, for example “How beautiful you are!”, “How you have everything I like!”, etc.
This customary exclamatory and admiring formula is widely used in popular speech in urban music, usually in reggaeton in an overtly sexual context.