Greetings and introductions

What you’ll learn

• Greet someone and exchange names.
• Ask how someone is and respond naturally.
• Close a brief conversation politely.

Open a conversation

Hola works in many everyday situations. Buenos días, buenas tardes and buenas noches add a time-of-day greeting. The boundaries depend on local habits; buenas noches can also be a goodbye before bed. A friendly greeting usually comes before a direct request. Use por favor when asking for something and gracias when someone helps.

Ask ¿Cómo te llamas? in a familiar conversation. Answer Me llamo... followed by your name. In a more formal setting, use ¿Cómo se llama? and let the context show that you are addressing the person respectfully. Spanish often leaves out a subject pronoun when the verb and situation make it clear.

Respond and take your leave

¿Qué tal? is a flexible informal way to ask how things are going. ¿Cómo estás? asks how one familiar person is. Bien, gracias is a useful short answer, and ¿y tú? returns the question. You can say Más o menos when things are only so-so. Match your level of detail to the situation rather than translating an English greeting word for word.

Adiós is a general goodbye. Hasta luego means see you later, while hasta mañana points to tomorrow. Practise the whole exchange: greeting, name, short response and goodbye. Speaking a small exchange smoothly is more useful than memorizing a long list of disconnected expressions.

Useful vocabulary

gracias

thank you

por favor

please

mañana

tomorrow / morning

Common mistakes

• Me llamo already means 'my name is'; do not add es before your name.
• Buenas noches can greet someone in the evening; it is not limited to bedtime.

Keep these ideas

• Begin with an appropriate greeting.
• Use me llamo to give your name.
• Return a friendly question with ¿y tú? and close with a goodbye.

Use it in your life

Write a four-line meeting between two characters from the A1 sample. Read each role aloud.

Read it in context

Look for this lesson’s ideas in a complete Spanish story. Read the passage first, then use its translations to check your understanding.