Your Guide to Cultural Fluency

Knowing how to introduce yourself in Spanish is very important when meeting people and making new friends outside of your normal circle. That’s why we bring you the most common greetings to use next time when out with friends! 

 

We use two exclamation points when using greetings in Spanish, (different orientation) one at the beginning and the other at the end of the sentence or expression, like this: “¡Hola!” (Hi! Or Hi there!)

Some expressions like “¡Buenos días!” (Good morning!) Are only appropriate for the morning, while others like “¡Hola!” (Hello!) can be used at any part of the day. Here is a short list of basic greetings in Spanish and other words you need to know so you can start practicing them:

 

¡Hola! ¿Estás ocupado?

Hello! Are you busy?

¡Buenos días Sr. García! Siéntese por favor.

Good morning Mr. García. Please sit down.

¡Buenas tardes Sra. Martinez! Lamento llegar tarde.

Good afternoon Mrs. Martinez! I am sorry I am late.

¡Buenas noches! Estamos contentos de verte.

Good evening/night! We are glad to see you.

 

Before using any of the Forms of Presentations in Spanish, we usually use a simple greeting like HOLA and then add an expression like MUCHO GUSTO or ask the other person “How are you?” These are two examples:

¡Hola! ¡Mucho gusto conocerte!

¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?

 

There are different ways of asking How are you? in Spanish, “¿Cómo estás?” It’s perhaps the easiest to remember. If you want to sound a little more formal, you can use “¿Cómo está usted?” and also “¿Cómo ha estado?”

The answer may vary from one country to another, but using the expression “Bien, ¿y tú?” (Well, and you?) is acceptable anywhere. Here are a few different ways of saying and responding to “How are you” in Spanish:

¿Cómo estás (tú)? – (Yo) estoy bien, ¿y tú?
How are you? – I am fine, and you?

Hola Kevin. ¿Cómo has estado? – Me encuentro bien, gracias
Hi Kevin. How are you doing? (Or, how have you been?) – I am doing well, thanks

¿Cómo van las cosas Carlos?
How are things going Carlos?

When you meet someone new, you can use the equivalent expression for “Nice to meet you” in Spanish, that is: ¡Mucho gusto! or ¡Mucho gusto en conocerte! (CONOCER is the translation of “to know” into Spanish). If you already know the person, simply change CONOCERTE to VERTE, for example ¡Mucho gusto en verte! (Nice to see you!). In both sentences, the preposition EN is optional.

¡Mucho gusto en conocerte Roberto!
Nice to meet you Roberto!

¡Es un placer conocerte!
It is a pleasure to meet you!

¡Qué gusto verte Sandra! – ¡Qué gusto verte también!
Nice to see you Sandra! – Nice to see you too

Es bueno verte.
It is good to see you

¿Qué pasa?/ ¿Qué hay?/¿Qué onda? – these questions may vary from one country to another.
What’s up?

To respond to greetings in Spanish, we often repeat the same expressions and add the word TAMBIÉN (too) at the end or before the greeting, for example:

María: ¡Mucho gusto! / ¡Es un placer!
Juan: ¡Mucho gusto también! / ¡También es un placer!

 

TO SAY GOODBYE

¡Adiós! and ¡Nos vemos! are very common ways of saying goodbye in Spanish.

¡Nos vemos! is a way of saying “See you!” You can add a time complement such as PRONTO (soon), MAÑANA (tomorrow), LUEGO (later), EN UN MOMENTO (in a moment) after NOS VEMOS as a way to clarify when you will see the other person. For example:

¡Adiós Alex! Te veo mañana en la escuela
Goodbye Alex! See you tomorrow at school.

Es tiempo de irme. ¡Adiós!
It is time to go. Bye!

Bien, ¡nos vemos pronto! ¡La pasé muy bien!
Well, see you soon! I had a good time here.

¡Nos vemos pronto entonces! ¡Por favor cuídate!
See you soon then! Please take care!

Lo siento, tengo algo que hacer. ¡Te veo luego!
Sorry, I have something to do. See you later!

¡Qué tengan una buena noche! / ¡Pasen buenas noches!
Have a good evening/night!

FOR INTRODUCTIONS

The words CÓMO (how) and CUÁL (which) are essential to ask names in Spanish with the questions: ¿Cómo te llamas? and ¿Cuál es tu nombre? In general, the personal pronoun TÚ is more informal than USTED. But omitting the personal pronoun in a sentence is normal, but be sure to use the correct verb conjugation for the subject, even if you omit it.

To introduce yourself in Spanish, you can start with a phrase like “HOLA” or “BUENOS DIAS”. Then you can say your name with: [ME LLAMO + NAME] or [MI NOMBRE ES + NAME]:

“¡Hola! Me llamo Alex”. You can also say your name using the verb SER with the structure [YO SOY + NOMBRE] as in “Yo soy Alex”. To ask names in Spanish, you can use ¿Cómo te llamas? or ¿Cuál es tu nombre? (How are you called?, What is your name?) It’s polite to use expressions like MUCHO GUSTO after hearing someone else’s name.

Carlos: ¡Hola! Mi nombre es Carlos. ¿Cómo te llamas?
Anna: ¡Mucho gusto Carlos! Me llamo Anna.
Carlos: El gusto es mío.

A few ways to introduce yourself in Spanish and ask someone else’s name:

¡Hola! Mi nombre es Alex
Hello! My name is Alex

¡Hola! (Yo) Me llamo John (LLAMO is the conjugation of the verb LLAMAR)
Hello! My name is John

¡Hola! (Yo) soy John. (SOY a form of the verb SER – to be)
Hello! I am John

¿Cómo se llama (usted)? (A formal way in Latin America to ask names)
What’s your name?

¿y tú? (To return the question in Spanish)
And you?

Introducing another person in Spanish

Carlos: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?
Anna: ¡Hola!. Yo estoy bien, ¿y tú?
Carlos: Bien. Permíteme presentarte a mi novia (Let me introduce you to my girlfriend). Su nombre es Jenny. 
Anna: ¡Es un gusto conocerte Jenny!
Jennifer: Mucho gusto conocerte también.

 

Try to listen to basic conversations in Spanish in your day-to-day life, between friends, videos, and eavesdropping. Pay attention to the greetings or even better practice with your friends on a night out while meeting new people!