Cómo que no

[poli]

Does this mean the same thing as ¿cómo no?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Not really. "Cómo no" is usually a kind way to say I'll be pleased to do something.

"Cómo que no" expresses my disconcertment (or even a slight anger) when I have a perception about something, but the situation disagrees with me.


¿Cómo que no quieres salir? -> I thought you wanted to go out?

(At the store) ¿Cómo que no tiene harina? La veo ahí arriba. -> What do you mean you don't have flour? I'm seeing it up there.

--Ya no hay azúcar. -> We're out of sugar.
--¿Cómo que no? Yo compré ayer. -> What do you mean? I bought it yesterday.

[wrholt]

I don't think so. A google search shows this old thread:

http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=639

[aleCcowaN]

We have a problem here because of this being all written. There are a dozen expressions depending on intonation. I suppose you're asking about "¡¡¿Cómo que no?!!" that is an expression from hard to irate, generally used to express astonishment because someone is trying to prevent us to do something we're are entitled to, or someone is denying some fact that we know is true and that changes the 'playing field'.

Other use could be someone saying here "dog no significa perro" and other person replying "¿Cómo que no? Mira este link". In such case it is the contradiction of a negative statement.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Just a note on wrholt's link: There must be a distinction between "cómo" and "como".

"Como que no pudiste" is a sarcastic expression saying "it seems you couldn't do it."

"¿Cómo que no pudiste?" is expressing my disconcertment as I expected you could do something but you couldn't in the end.