There’s a rule that helps English speakers remember when to use “cómo” and when to use “como.”
Cómo = how
Como = like
Regardless of whether the sentence is interrogative or exclamatory or not. However, I found two confusing examples.
“Cómo es ser perro?”
In English, you can translate it in two ways, one with “how” and one with “like.”
“What’s it like to be a dog?”
“How’s being a dog?”
The correct answer to “Cómo es ser perro?” is to think of it as “how” instead of "like.” In English, when we say, “What’s it like being a dog?” we’re not asking for an actual comparison. We’re not looking for an answer such as, “Being a dog is somewhat like being a wolf.”
“¡Ay!¡Cómo lo extraño!”
The meaning changes entirely from “how” or “like” to “how much.” I had no idea what to do with that sentence. However, when we use “how much” or “how” in English, it’s either a question or an “exclamation” by default. “Oh, how [much] I miss my old home.” The sentence isn’t exactly an exclamation, but it’s a step up from declarative. That’s why when the same concept is applied to Spanish, the tilde comes with it.
It took a lot of comments to get down to the meat of the issue, or "el grano" as they say in Spanish. They're all relevant, but the last one answers the question completely.
Los pronombres interrogativos y exclamativos qué, quién, cómo, cuál, cuándo, cuánto, cuán, dónde y adónde llevan tilde diacrítica para diferenciar su entonación de la de los pronombres relativos o conjunciones que, quien, como, cual, cuando, cuanto, cuan, donde y adonde. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZenpRr_C9Mc&ab_channel=BurbujaDELEspa%C3%B1ol
That wasn't my question. Besides, "como" is an exception to that rule.
@JGComm "Como" is written with an accent when it has interrogative or exclamatory value, and without in the rest of the cases. End of story. 😉 (That's exactly the nuance I wanted to convey when the father in the story says "Period". Does it sound authoritative here? If it does, I apologize.
Oh wow, that's much easier than I thought! Again, you're applying the literal meaning of "end of story" here, not the way it's used in conversation. "End of story" means that the listener should not argue with you. In contrast, "That's it" works better here, because it expresses how straightforward the matter is.
@JGComm, Got it 👍🏼 Thanks for explaining
@CocoPop I still didn’t get it even after the others’ explanations. Do you mind helping?
I’ll make it very easy. When it means how, add the accent. For instance, in your example above, you could paraphrase it as “Oh, how I miss him!“ So it’s cómo.
When it means like, you don’t add the accent. For instance, if you wanted to say “Nobody misses him like I do,” you’d say “Nadie lo extraña como yo (lo extraño).”
@Cocopop Yeah but did you see the exception I wrote in Paragraph 2?
Also, Paragraph 1 covers the tip you gave. Did you read that part? Not trying to be disrespectful, but I truly can't tell if you read the post or not. I don't usually post about rules; I post about confusing exceptions or loopholes. And I try to explain to people in the beginning of such posts that yes, I do know the rule already. I include that info so that I don't waste their time (i.e., them typing the rule for me when I already know it).
It’s all about context. What is it like? is just another way of asking how is it, so it’s cómo.
You’re right! I didn’t read your post because I got caught up reading the comments 😅 Sorry to be repetitive.
For instance, if someone told you they tried sushi and you’ve never had it, you could ask “What’s it like?” and in Spanish it’d still be ¿Cómo es?
Thanks for the clarification! Yeah, the comments kind of stole the show for this one.