¡Saludémonos! Basic Courtesies and Greetings

This is basically the natural starting-off point to learning Spanish. After you finish learning the following vocab, you should be able to greet someone formally and informally. This is the best way to open the doors to communicating with someone in any language.

Frases útiles
¡Hola! Hello
¡Buenos días! Good morning!
¡Buenas tardes! Good afternoon!
¡Buenas noches! Good evening!
Adiós… Good bye
Hasta luego See you later
Hasta la vista See you around
Hasta mañana See you tomorrow
Señor(Sr.) Mr., sir
Señora(Sra.) Mrs., ma’am
Señorita(Srta.) Miss. Ms.
gracias thanks, thank you
muchas gracias thank you very much
muchísimas gracias thank you SO much
de nada, por nada you’re welcome
no hay de qué you’re welcome
por favor please
perdón excuse me, pardon me(to get attention)
con permiso excuse me, pardon me (used to politely walk by someone)
lo siento I’m sorry(express sorrow or regret)


Otros saludos y cortesías
In Spanish, there are two ways to greet the 2nd person(you):

1) formal way, for teachers, professionals, elders, etc.
2) informal/familiar way, for friends, relatives, others known on first-name basis.


Notice the following examples and their subtle differences:

¿Cómo estás? How are you?(familiar, uses 2nd person singular in familiar tense)
¿Cómo está Ud.? How are you?(formal, uses Ud. or usted)
¿Cómo te llamas? What’s your name?(familiar)
¿Cómo se llama Ud.? What’s your name?(formal)


Diálogo
Juan: ¡Hola Brian! ¿Cómo estás?
Brian: Bien, Juan, bien. ¿Y tú?
Juan: Mal.
Brian: Lo siento. Adiós.
Juan: Muchas gracias. Buenas noches, Brian.
Brian: Hasta mañana.

"¿Y tú?" is a common response to "How are you?", in Spanish. The pronoun “tú” refers to “you” in the familiar sense. You would use this form whilst conversing with a friend or such.

So, next time you're at a function and you overhear some folks conversing in Spanish, jump right in the mix with some of the above mentioned dialog, and who knows, they might invite you over for their daughter's quinceañera.

Sigue estudiando,

Professor Joel