Learn the Spansh salutations to make a good first impression!
In Spain, it is common (and more polite) to use greetings that go beyond just ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ unless you know a person really well and are just saying hello in passing. Spanish people use a variety of salutations, depending on the time of day, to greet each other. Here are some examples of the most common ones:
|
PERÍODO DEL DÍA |
HORA | SALUDO |
|
Mañana / Morning |
until 14h |
Buenos días. |
|
Tarde / Afternoon |
until 21h |
Buenas tardes. |
| Noche/ Night | until 5h |
Buenas noches. |
Ex: Hola, buenos días. When you walk into a shop in the morning.
It’s also very common to ask how someone is doing when you greet them. Informally you would ask a friend, ¿Qué tal?, ¿Qué tal todo?, ¿Qué hay?, ¿Cómo vas? (How are you?, How’s everything?, What’s up?, How are you doing) And more formally you would ask a stranger or a person you are meeting for the first time, ¿Cómo está/s? (How are you?).
To say goodbye, you can pick from any of these options:
Adiós
Hasta luego
Cuídate
Hasta la próxima
Hasta pronto
Hasta mañana
Que tenga/s un buen día
Me alegro de verte
Goodbye
Later – See you later
Take care
Until next time
See you soon
See you tomorrow
Have a nice day
I’m happy to see you
Even if you’re not really going to see someone later, any/all of these forms are correct. So it just depends on what mood you are in!
Here are some examples of small talk conversations:
INFORMAL
—¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?
—Bien, ¿y tú?
—Bien.
—Adiós.
—Hasta mañana.
—Buenas.
—¿Qué hay?
—Nada. ¿Y tú?
—Todo bien.
— Me alegro.
— Cuídate.
FORMAL
—Hola, buenos días, señor Sánchez.
—Buenos días, señora Durán.
—Buenos días, Sr. García.
— ¿Cómo está/s?
—Muy bien, ¿y tú/usted?
—Muy bien también, gracias.
—Me alegro de verte, señorita Rubio.
—Igualmente, señor Costa.
—Que tengas un buen día.
—Hasta pronto.
Download the Spanish lesson for free! Grammar Lesson – Salutations_puebloespanol
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