Everyday Spanish phrases: what people actually say, from hola to un beso
A conversation, start to finish · pick a moment
¡Hola!hi¿Qué tal?how’s it going
OH-lah, keh TAL“Hi! How’s it going?”The all-purpose informal greeting.
¿Quéwhatpasa?happens
keh PAH-sah“What’s up?”Very casual, among friends.
Bien,finegracias,thanks¿yandtú?you
byen, GRAH-thyahs, ee TOO“Fine, thanks, and you?”Always return the question.
Short answer: greet with hola plus the time of day (buenos días until lunch, buenas tardes until dark, buenas noches after). Use tú with friends and people your age, usted with strangers who are older or in formal settings. Keep a conversation moving with vale (OK), pues (well) and ¿no?, and end with hasta luego, even if you will not see the person later.
Greetings through the day
Buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches
Spain divides the day by meals, not by the clock: tardes start after lunch (around 2 pm) and run until it gets dark, often 9 pm in summer. Buenas noches is both “good evening” and “good night”. Just buenas works at any hour.
To scale, 6:00 to midnight in Spain. In Latin America, tardes usually start at noon.
Courtesy
Please, thank you, sorry: three of each
Spaniards say por favor less than English speakers and soften requests with tone or a question instead. There are two kinds of “sorry”: perdón / perdona to get attention or for a small slip, lo siento for real regret. Perdona is the tú form, perdone the usted form.
Please
Thank you
Sorry
Fillers and connectors
Vale, pues, o sea: the glue of real conversation
These small words carry no dictionary meaning on their own but make you sound natural. Each has one main job. Tap to hear it inside a sentence.
valeOK, agreed
Vale,OKnos vemoswe-see-each-othera las ocho.at eight
BAH-leh, nohs BEH-mohs ah lahs OH-choh · “OK, see you at eight.”
pueswell, so
PueswellyoIprefieropreferel mar.the sea
pwes yoh preh-FYEH-roh el MAR · “Well, I prefer the sea.”
buenoright, well
Bueno,right¿empezamos?we-start
BWEH-noh, em-peh-THAH-mohs · “Right, shall we start?”
ah BEHR, keh PAH-sah · “Let’s see, what’s going on?”
tío / tíamate (Spain)
¡Quéwhatfuerte,strongtío!uncle
keh FWEHR-teh, TEE-oh · “That’s crazy, mate!”
Reacting
¡Anda!, ¡vaya!, ¡qué fuerte!
Spanish listeners react out loud, often. Silence can sound cold. Sort these by feeling, and tap to hear the tone.
Saying goodbye
Hasta luego, nos vemos, un beso
Goodbyes in Spain are long: people say two or three of these in a row. Adiós on its own can sound final; hasta luego is the everyday default, even with a shop assistant you will never see again.
Phone and messages
¿Diga?, ¿sí?, and WhatsApp shorthand
Answering the phone in Spain is ¿Diga? or ¿Sí?; in Mexico, ¿Bueno?. In messages, Spanish speakers shorten words by sound. Tap a message to see it written out.