If you’re traveling in one of the world’s many Spanish-speaking countries, or meeting a Spanish speaker anywhere for that matter, you need to be able to say “Hello” in Spanish, as well as some other Spanish greetings. Of course greetings are just the tip of the iceberg, but you have to start somewhere!
1. Hola – Hello in Spanish
Hola, spoken with a silent h, is the most basic greeting in Spanish meaning “Hello”. It is used in all Spanish-speaking countries, and can be used at all times of day, and in any context, either formal and informal. Hola is often followed by another greeting that is specific to the time of day, such as:
2. Buenos días – Good Morning in Spanish
Buenos días literally means “Good day”, but it is normally used in the morning, until around noon. So when translated in context, it usually means “Good morning”.
As I mentioned above, it often follows Hola. You will commonly hear Hola, buenos días meaning “Hello, good morning!”
3. Buenas tardes – Good afternoon in Spanish
Buenas tardes means “Good afternoon”, and as you can probably guess, it’s used after around 12:00 PM. There is a little bit of variation in how late in the day it is used, though, depending on the country.
In Spain it’s used until later in the evening, while in most of Latin America you stop using once the sun goes down. Once it’s dark you begin to say:
4. Buenas noches – Good evening in Spanish
Buenas noches means “Good evening” or “Good night” (in the context of parting ways). In Latin America it’s generally used once it gets dark, while in Spain it might be used a little later.
5. Buenas
Buenas is an informal shortened form of the above three greetings.
6. ¿Qué tal? – How’s it going? in Spanish
This is an informal Spanish greeting, or rather a way of inquiring about someone’s well-being. You can ask this question outside of very formal situations.
7. ¿Cómo estás? – How are you? in Spanish
¿Cómo estás? is the informal form of the question meaning “How are you?” in Spanish, when you are speaking to an individual person.
8. ¿Cómo está? – How are you?
¿Cómo está? is the formal form of the question meaning “How are you?” in Spanish, when you are speaking to just one person. The formal question is used when you are addressing someone who is older than you, or someone whom you need to show respect to. If a business context you will likely say ¿Cómo está? rather than ¿Cómo estás?
Está is actually the third person singular form of the verb (for subjects like he/she/it, rather than you). It is used here to show politeness. You can also ask Como está (Usted)?
But how do you answer “How are you?” in Spanish?
9. Bien, gracias – Good, thanks
Bien means “Well” and gracias means “thanks”. Keep in mind that while in English we might answer with the adjective “good”, in Spanish bien is an adverb meaning “well”.
10. Muy bien – Very good
Muy means “very”. Remember that bien means “well”, so this technically means “Very well”, but it’s the equivalent of English “Very good” in response to “How are you?”
11. Bienvenido – Welcome
Bienvenido means “welcome” in Spanish. It is the masculine singular form, so if you are talking to one individual male, use Bienvenido. The feminine singular form is Bienvenida.
If you are talking to a group of males or a group of both males and females, use Bienvenidos with an s. If you are welcoming a group of females, use Bienvenidas.
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