Greetings & Goodbyes

Spanish Basic Conversation 1

Chapter 1 · Greetings & Goodbyes

👋 Greetings & Goodbyes — Saludos y despedidas

Welcome to your first Spanish conversation lesson. By the end of this chapter you will be able to greet people at any time of day, say thank you and sorry, ask how someone is and say goodbye, choosing between the formal and informal style. Spanish spelling is very close to its sounds, so a short sound guide (below) is all you need to read the language aloud. Every Spanish line also has an English respelling beneath it, with CAPITALS on the stressed syllable. This course uses the Spanish of Spain (Castilian), with notes on Latin America.

① Good Morning (formal) — Buenos días

A: Buenos días, señor Ruiz. BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs, seh-NYOR RWEETH. Good morning, Mr Ruiz.

B: Buenos días, señora. ¿Cómo está usted? BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs, seh-NYOH-rah. KOH-moh ehs-TAH oos-TEHD? Good morning, madam. How are you?

A: Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y usted? mwee BYEHN, GRAH-thyahs. ee oos-TEHD? Very well, thank you. And you?

B: Bien, gracias. BYEHN, GRAH-thyahs. Fine, thank you.

② Meeting a Friend (informal) — ¡Hola!

A: ¡Hola, Ana! OH-lah, AH-nah! Hi, Ana!

B: ¡Hola, Pablo! ¿Qué tal? OH-lah, PAH-bloh! keh TAHL? Hi, Pablo! How's it going?

A: Bien, ¿y tú? BYEHN, ee TOO? Fine, and you?

B: Muy bien. mwee BYEHN. Very well.

③ Afternoon at the Hotel — Buenas tardes

A: Buenas tardes. BWEH-nahs TAR-dehs. Good afternoon. (Philip, arriving)

B: Buenas tardes. Bienvenido. BWEH-nahs TAR-dehs. byehn-beh-NEE-doh. Good afternoon. Welcome.

A: Gracias. GRAH-thyahs. Thank you.

B: De nada. deh NAH-dah. You're welcome.

④ Good Night — Buenas noches

A: Buenas noches. BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs. Good night.

B: Buenas noches. Hasta mañana. BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs. AHS-tah mah-NYAH-nah. Good night. See you tomorrow.

A: Hasta mañana. AHS-tah mah-NYAH-nah. See you tomorrow.

⑤ Excuse Me — Perdone

A: Perdone. pehr-DOH-neh. Excuse me. (formal)

B: No pasa nada. noh PAH-sah NAH-dah. It's no problem.

A: Lo siento mucho. loh SYEHN-toh MOO-choh. I'm very sorry.

B: No es nada. noh ehs NAH-dah. It's nothing.

⑥ Saying Goodbye to Friends (casual, plural) — Hasta luego

A: ¡Hola, chicos! ¿Cómo estáis? OH-lah, CHEE-kohs! KOH-moh ehs-TAHYS? Hi, guys! How are you all?

B: ¡Hola, Pablo! Muy bien. ¿Y tú? OH-lah, PAH-bloh! mwee BYEHN. ee TOO? Hi, Pablo! Very well. And you?

A: Bien. Bueno, hasta luego. BYEHN. BWEH-noh, AHS-tah LWEH-goh. Fine. Well, see you later.

B: ¡Adiós! Nos vemos. ah-DYOHS! nohs BEH-mohs. Bye! See you.

🔊 The Sounds of Spanish — Los sonidos

Spanish is almost always pronounced as it is spelled, and each vowel has one clear sound. Learn this short table and you can read any Spanish word aloud.

Letter	Sound	Example
a	"ah", as in "father"	casa KAH-sah (house)
e	"eh", as in "bed"	mesa MEH-sah (table)
i	"ee", as in "see"	sí SEE (yes)
o	"oh", as in "go" (short and clean)	hola OH-lah
u	"oo", as in "moon"	tú TOO (you)
h	silent	hola, hasta OH-lah, AHS-tah
j (and g before e, i)	a throaty "kh", like the end of Scottish "loch"	hijo, gente EE-khoh, KHEHN-teh
ñ	"ny", as in "canyon"	mañana, señor mah-NYAH-nah, seh-NYOR
ll	like English "y" in "yes"	llamar yah-MAR
rr (and r at the start of a word)	a rolled "r"	perro PEH-rroh (dog)
c before e, i, and z	"th" as in "thin" in Spain ("s" in Latin America)	gracias, zapato GRAH-thyahs, thah-PAH-toh
c before a, o, u, and qu	"k"	casa, queso KAH-sah, KEH-soh
gu before e, i	hard "g" (the u is silent)	guerra GEH-rrah (war)
b and v	the same sound, a soft "b"	vaso, bien BAH-soh, BYEHN
ch	"ch", as in "church"	noches NOH-chehs

Where is the stress? Words ending in a vowel, -n or -s are stressed on the second-to-last syllable (HAS-ta, BUE-nos, HA-blan). Words ending in any other consonant are stressed on the last syllable (us-TED, se-ÑOR). A written accent overrides both rules and shows the stress (tú, ¿cómo?, adiós). Questions and exclamations start with an upside-down mark: ¿Qué tal? ¡Hola!

🗝️ Key Phrases — Frases clave

Spanish has two styles of address. With friends, family and people your age you use tú (tutear). With strangers, older people and in formal settings you use usted. In Spain, to several friends you say vosotros. Here are the phrases for both.

Situation	Formal (usted)	Informal (tú)
Good morning	Buenos días. BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs	Buenos días. / Hola. BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs / OH-lah
Good afternoon	Buenas tardes. BWEH-nahs TAR-dehs	Hola. OH-lah
Good evening / night	Buenas noches. BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs	Hola. / Buenas noches. OH-lah / BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs
How are you?	¿Cómo está usted? KOH-moh ehs-TAH oos-TEHD	¿Cómo estás? / ¿Qué tal? KOH-moh ehs-TAHS / keh TAHL
How are you? (several friends, Spain)	¿Cómo están ustedes? KOH-moh ehs-TAHN oos-TEH-dehs	¿Cómo estáis? KOH-moh ehs-TAHYS
Thank you	Gracias. GRAH-thyahs	Gracias. GRAH-thyahs
Please	Por favor. pohr fah-BOHR	Por favor. pohr fah-BOHR
You're welcome	De nada. deh NAH-dah	De nada. deh NAH-dah
Excuse me	Perdone. / Disculpe. pehr-DOH-neh / dees-KOOL-peh	Perdona. / Disculpa. pehr-DOH-nah / dees-KOOL-pah
Goodbye	Adiós. / Hasta luego. ah-DYOHS / AHS-tah LWEH-goh	Adiós. / Hasta luego. / Nos vemos. ah-DYOHS / AHS-tah LWEH-goh / nohs BEH-mohs

Tú or Usted? A Simple Rule If you would use a person's first name in English, use tú. If you would say "sir", "madam", or "Mr / Mrs", use usted. In shops, hotels, offices and with older strangers, start with usted: nobody will mind, and if they want tú they will tell you (Tutéame, por favor, "Use tú with me, please"). Among young people in Spain, tú is used very freely.

🕐 Which Greeting When — Cuándo se dice qué

When	Say	Notes
Morning	Buenos días. BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs	from waking up until about lunchtime
Afternoon, early evening	Buenas tardes. BWEH-nahs TAR-dehs	from lunchtime until it gets dark
Evening, night	Buenas noches. BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs	for both "good evening" and "good night"

Spain's Late Lunch Lunch in Spain is often around 2 or 3 pm, so the "morning" lasts longer than in Britain: you will often hear buenos días well after midday, and buenas tardes until the evening. Buenas noches serves as both "good evening" and "good night".

🎩 Titles — Tratamiento

In Spanish the title comes before the surname, as in English: señor Ruiz ("Mr Ruiz"), señora Ruiz ("Mrs Ruiz"). The abbreviations are Sr. and Sra.

Title	Used before a surname	Example
señor seh-NYOR	Mr, sir (formal)	señor Ruiz seh-NYOR RWEETH
señora seh-NYOH-rah	Mrs, madam (formal; an adult woman)	señora García seh-NYOH-rah gar-THEE-ah
(none)	friends and peers: first name only	Ana, Pablo AH-nah, PAH-bloh

🔤 Three Verbs for Greetings — Verbos

Spanish verbs change their ending for each person. Here is the present tense of three useful verbs: estar ("to be", for how you are), saludar ("to greet") and hablar ("to speak"). Saludar and hablar are regular -ar verbs (take off -ar, add the endings); estar has an irregular yo form (estoy). Because the ending shows the person, Spanish usually drops the subject pronoun (hablo, not yo hablo), keeping it only for emphasis.

	estar (to be)	saludar (to greet)	hablar (to speak)
yo (I) YOH	estoy ehs-TOY	saludo sah-LOO-doh	hablo AH-bloh
tú (you, informal) TOO	estás ehs-TAHS	saludas sah-LOO-dahs	hablas AH-blahs
él, ella, usted (he, she; you, formal) EHL, EH-yah, oos-TEHD	está ehs-TAH	saluda sah-LOO-dah	habla AH-blah
nosotros (we) noh-SOH-trohs	estamos ehs-TAH-mohs	saludamos sah-loo-DAH-mohs	hablamos ah-BLAH-mohs
vosotros (you, plural informal; Spain) boh-SOH-trohs	estáis ehs-TAHYS	saludáis sah-loo-DAHYS	habláis ah-BLAHYS
ellos, ellas, ustedes (they; you, plural formal) EH-yohs, EH-yahs, oos-TEH-dehs	están ehs-TAHN	saludan sah-LOO-dahn	hablan AH-blahn

¿Cómo estás? Why "estar"? Spanish has two verbs for "to be". For how you are (a condition that can change) use estar: ¿Cómo estás? Estoy bien. The other verb, ser, is for who you are and what things are like, and comes in Chapter 2. Notice too that usted takes the same verb form as él / ella (¿Cómo está usted?).

📖 Vocabulary — Vocabulario

20 key words. Read the Spanish first, then check the respelling (CAPITALS = the stressed syllable).

#	Spanish	Say it	English	Type
1	hola	OH-lah	hello; hi	phrase
2	adiós	ah-DYOHS	goodbye	phrase
3	buenos días	BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs	good morning	phrase
4	buenas tardes	BWEH-nahs TAR-dehs	good afternoon	phrase
5	buenas noches	BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs	good evening; good night	phrase
6	hasta luego	AHS-tah LWEH-goh	see you later	phrase
7	hasta mañana	AHS-tah mah-NYAH-nah	see you tomorrow	phrase
8	gracias	GRAH-thyahs	thank you	phrase
9	de nada	deh NAH-dah	you're welcome	phrase
10	por favor	pohr fah-BOHR	please	phrase
11	perdón	pehr-DOHN	sorry; excuse me	phrase
12	lo siento	loh SYEHN-toh	I'm sorry	phrase
13	¿qué tal?	keh TAHL	how's it going?	phrase
14	bien	BYEHN	well; fine	adv
15	mal	MAHL	badly; bad	adv
16	sí	SEE	yes	phrase
17	no	NOH	no; not	phrase
18	el señor	ehl seh-NYOR	Mr; gentleman	noun
19	la señora	lah seh-NYOH-rah	Mrs; lady	noun
20	la tarde	lah TAR-deh	the afternoon	noun

Dos Besos — Two Kisses In Spain, friends and family greet each other with dos besos ("two kisses"): you touch cheeks, right cheek first, and make a kissing sound in the air. It is common between two women, and between a man and a woman; men who know each other well may hug or shake hands instead. With people you meet for the first time in a formal or business setting, a handshake is the safe choice.

Latin America Note In Latin America nobody says vosotros: to several people, formal or informal, you say ustedes (¿Cómo están?). In Latin America, c before e, i and z are pronounced like an English "s", not "th": gracias sounds like GRAH-syahs. Both pronunciations are correct, and everyone understands both. In some countries vos is used instead of tú; you will meet it later in the course.

Grammar Pointer Subject pronouns and forms of address are explained fully in Spanish Grammar 1 9, and the full sound and spelling map is in Spanish Grammar 1 1. You do not need them yet: this chapter gives you what you need to start.

✍️ Try It Yourself — Ejercicios

Say each answer out loud first, then click to check.

1. It is morning and you meet an older neighbour, Mr Ruiz. What do you say?

Show answer

Buenos días, señor Ruiz. (BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs, seh-NYOR RWEETH)

2. A friend your age asks how you are. Reply, and ask back.

Show answer

Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú? (BYEHN, GRAH-thyahs. ee TOO?)

3. What is the formal way to say "How are you?", and the informal way?

Show answer

Formal: ¿Cómo está usted? · informal: ¿Cómo estás? (or ¿Qué tal?)

4. You bump into a stranger on the metro. What do you say?

Show answer

Perdone. or Disculpe. (or just Perdón.)

5. Say goodbye to a friend you will see tomorrow, then to someone you will see later today.

Show answer

Hasta mañana. · Hasta luego.

6. Read aloud: mañana, hijo, llamar, perro. What is special about the ñ, h, ll and rr in them?

Show answer

mañana = mah-NYAH-nah (ñ = "ny") · hijo = EE-khoh (silent h, throaty j) · llamar = yah-MAR (ll = "y") · perro = PEH-rroh (rolled rr).

Coming Up in Chapter 2 Introducing yourself: Me llamo … ("my name is"), Soy … ("I am"), ¿Cómo te llamas? and ¿Cómo se llama usted? ("what is your name?"), mucho gusto, and the verb ser ("to be"), with two surnames in Spain.