Lesson 1.1 · Unit 1 · Communication: interpersonal

Saying hello, giving your name and being polite

Every conversation in any language begins the same way: a greeting, a name, a question about how the other person is, and a goodbye. These phrases are fixed. You do not build them, you learn them whole, so this lesson is a short list to memorize and one decision to make each time: how formal to be. Read every Spanish phrase aloud as you go. Spanish spelling is close to the sound, and Lesson 1.2 shows you exactly how.

The method
  1. Greet by the time of day. Hola (hello) works at any hour. Buenos días (good morning) is used until about noon, buenas tardes (good afternoon) until dark, and buenas noches (good evening, and also good night) after that.
  2. Say goodbye. Adiós (goodbye), hasta luego (see you later), hasta mañana (see you tomorrow), nos vemos (see you around) and the casual chao.
  3. Ask how someone is. To a friend or a young person: ¿Cómo estás? To an adult you respect, a stranger or a teacher: ¿Cómo está usted? Answer with muy bien (very well), bien (fine), más o menos (so so), regular (okay) or mal (bad), then return the question: ¿Y tú? or ¿Y usted?
  4. Give your name. Me llamo Ana. (My name is Ana.) It literally means "I call myself Ana." Ask a friend ¿Cómo te llamas? and an adult ¿Cómo se llama usted?
  5. Meet someone. Mucho gusto (nice to meet you) works for anyone. A man or boy may say encantado and a woman or girl encantada. The reply is igualmente (likewise) or el gusto es mío (the pleasure is mine).
  6. Be polite. Por favor (please), gracias (thank you), de nada (you're welcome), perdón (excuse me, sorry), lo siento (I'm sorry) and con permiso (excuse me, when you pass in front of someone).
  7. Use titles with last names. señor (Mr.), señora (Mrs.), señorita (Miss). Written out they are not capitalized: buenos días, señor Ramos. Titles always go with usted, never with tú.
  8. Say where you are from. Soy de México. (I am from Mexico.) Ask ¿De dónde eres? (friend) or ¿De dónde es usted? (formal). Learn Soy de ___ as a set phrase now. Lesson 3.2 explains the verb inside it.

Where students lose marks: the register and the plurals. Buenos días and buenas tardes are plural, and they differ in gender, so buenos noches is wrong. Using tú with a teacher or a stranger is wrong in school Spanish. Pick formal or informal before you speak and keep it the whole way through.

Worked example

The problem. It is 8:15 in the morning. You are a student named Marta and you meet your teacher, Mr. Ramos, in the hall. Write the conversation: greet him, ask how he is, answer his question, say goodbye.

Step one: read the situation. The time is morning, so the greeting is buenos días. The other person is a teacher, so the register is formal and the form of "you" is usted.

Step two: greet him with his title. Buenos días, señor Ramos. (Good morning, Mr. Ramos.) The title is lowercase.

Step three: ask how he is, formally. ¿Cómo está usted? Both question marks are present, the accent on cómo is written, and the verb is está, the usted form, not estás.

Step four: his answer. He says Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú? He is older, so he may use tú to you. That is allowed, because a person of higher status chooses the register.

Step five: your answer and the return question. Bien, gracias. ¿Y usted? You still say usted to him.

Step six: add politeness. After he answers, you say Con permiso as you step past to class.

Step seven: say goodbye. Hasta mañana, señor Ramos. If you will see him again the same day, hasta luego fits better.

Step eight: read it aloud and check. Two greeting words, one title used twice, usted every time you speak, an accent on días, cómo and está, and a ¿ at the start of both questions. The finished conversation is Buenos días, señor Ramos. ¿Cómo está usted? Bien, gracias. ¿Y usted? Hasta mañana, señor Ramos.

Practice · 10 problems

Problems 1 to 5 are routine. Problems 6 to 10 are multi-step or ask for reasoning.

  1. What greeting do you use at 8:00 in the morning?
    Show the full solution

    The morning greeting is buenos días. It is plural even though it greets one day. Buenos días

  2. What greeting do you use at 3:00 in the afternoon?
    Show the full solution

    Afternoon is buenas tardes, plural and feminine because tarde is a feminine word. Buenas tardes

  3. How do you say "See you tomorrow" in Spanish?
    Show the full solution

    Hasta means "until" and mañana means "tomorrow". Hasta mañana

  4. What does mucho gusto mean, and when do you say it?
    Show the full solution

    It means "nice to meet you" and you say it when you are introduced to someone. Nice to meet you

  5. You are asked ¿Cómo te llamas? Answer with a name of your choice.
    Show the full solution

    Use me llamo and then the name. Any name works, for example Me llamo Daniel. The verb phrase never changes. Me llamo Daniel.

  6. It is 9:00 at night. Greet Mrs. López and ask how she is.
    Show the full solution

    Night calls for buenas noches. A woman you address by title is formal, so the question uses usted: ¿Cómo está usted? Buenas noches, señora López. ¿Cómo está usted?

  7. Find and correct the errors: Buenos noches. Como estas?
    Show the full solution

    Three errors. Noches is feminine, so the greeting is buenas noches. Cómo needs its accent. The question needs both marks, ¿Cómo estás?, and estás needs its accent. Buenas noches. ¿Cómo estás?

  8. Which question would you ask a friend, ¿Cómo estás? or ¿Cómo está usted?, and which would you ask a stranger twice your age?
    Show the full solution

    The friend gets the tú form, ¿Cómo estás? The older stranger gets the respectful usted form, ¿Cómo está usted? Friend: ¿Cómo estás? Stranger: ¿Cómo está usted?

  9. Write a three-line conversation in which you meet a new classmate named Luis and say where you are from.
    Show the full solution

    Classmates are informal, so use tú. One correct answer: Hola, me llamo Sofía. ¿Cómo te llamas? Me llamo Luis. Mucho gusto. Igualmente. ¿De dónde eres? Soy de Texas. It names, asks, and uses the set phrases mucho gusto and soy de.

  10. Someone says Gracias to you. What do you answer? What do you say if you bump into someone by accident?
    Show the full solution

    The answer to thanks is de nada. For a small accident say perdón, and for a more serious apology say lo siento. De nada; perdón

1.2 The alphabet and the five vowels →

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