Asking “How Are You?”
Read the
following dialogue between Marcos and Ana.
Marcos: Hola,
Ana. Hello, Ana.
Ana: ¡Hola
Marcos! Hello Marcos!
Marcos: ¿Cómo
estás? How are you?
Ana:
Bien, ¿y tú? Good, and you?
Marcos:
¡Bien, gracias! Good, thanks!
Above,
notice how Ana referred back to Marcos using tú. Marcos also asked Ana
how she was doing using the tú
conjugation of the verb estar (to be).
If the two
persons in the dialogue don’t know each other and some formality is expected,
the conversation would go like this:
Sr. Cruz:
Hola, Sr. ¿Cómo está Ud.? Hello, sir. How are you?
Sr. López:
Muy bien. ¿Y Ud.? Very well. And you?
Sr. Cruz:
Muy bien. ¡Muchísimas gracias! Very well. Thanks so much!
Notice the
subtle change of the conjugation of the verb estar, from estás to está.
This is important so the
conjugation of the verb fits the subject pronoun of the sentence, whether it is
tú or Ud.
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