In the literal translation, "come" means "how"...but I don't really understand how it can also be used when asking someone what their name is "come ti chiami". Can "come" also mean "what"?
Question about the word "come"

williamsn411
July 13, 2008

(deleted)
July 13, 2008
I think I know the answer to that... The verb in question is _chiamare_, which literally means "to call." And it is also what's known as a reflexive verb, which means that it can be used to express actions that happen TO ourselves or TO one another.
That's what those little pronouns you see in front of the verb are doing, _MI chiamo _and _TI chiami_. They are giving you a literal translation of "I call MYSELF," or "you call YOURSELF."
The last part then is _COME_, which does equal "how." Now that you know how the verb _chiamare _works, this should be easy to see that what we are literally saying is "HOW do you call yourself?" _Come ti chiami?_
_Hai capito?_ Make sense?

williamsn411
July 14, 2008
Ah!!!, ho capito...grazie.