¿qué demonios te pasa?
/ˈke deˈmonjos te ˈpasa/word by word
The English phrase "what the hell is wrong with you?" is translated into Spanish as ¿qué demonios te pasa?
This phrase is an angry or shocked question used to ask why someone is behaving in a strange or unacceptable way. Using demonios (devils/demons) is a way to convey frustration and translate the emphasis of "the hell" in English.
What does it mean word for word?
Literally, ¿qué demonios te pasa? means "what devils to you happens?", where qué is "what", demonios is "devils", te is "to you" and pasa means "happens to you".
Which one should you use?
While demonios is a common way to add emphasis, it is generally less vulgar than using actual profanity. If you use ¿qué carajo te pasa?, replacing demonios with carajo makes the phrase significantly more vulgar and aggressive. Another variation is ¿qué diablos te ocurre?, which means "what the hell is going on with you?"
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Mexico, the phrase ¿qué chingados te pasa? is more commonly used to mean "what the hell is wrong with you?"
How does it change in a sentence?
To adapt the phrase for formal situations, change the pronoun te to le to create ¿qué demonios le pasa?
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈke deˈmonjos te ˈpasa/
Did you know?
- The word pasa in ¿qué demonios te pasa? is derived from the Latin passa, which originally meant a 'spread grape' or raisin.
- Using the formal le instead of te in ¿qué demonios le pasa? allows a speaker to express extreme shock or anger while still maintaining a cold, social distance.
- Even though qué demonios te pasa? uses the word for 'devils', it is not considered a religious or occult expression, but a common secular idiom for emphasis.
Examples in context
- ¡Oye! ¿Qué demonios te pasa? Estás actuando de forma muy extraña.Hey! What the hell is wrong with you? You are acting very strangely.
- ¡Oye!, ¿qué demonios te pasa?Hey!, what the hell is wrong with you?
