Hola: Hello- Think of both H's the both mean Hi
Beuenos dias: good morning- Think of it as Buenos meaning good then dias meaning morning.
Buenas tardes: good afternoon- think of after when you look at tardes
Buenas noches: good evening or good night- Think if the N's in both Noches/ night.
¿Qué tal?: How are you?- each says how are you so they are just differently.
¿Cómo va?: How are you?-
Saludos ( Greetings)
Below are a few lists of Greetings in Spanish translated to English. The Spanish word is on the left and the English translation is on the right.
(1). ¡Hola!.................................................Hello!
(2). ¡Buenos dias!.....................................Good morning!
(3). ¡Buenas dias!.....................................Good afternoon!
(4). ¡Buenas noches!................................Good evening/night!
* Notice that when you say "good morning" & "good evening" in Spanish you say "buenAS" instead of "buenOS".The differrence between the three is that there is one masculine and two feminine. In Spanish the things that are masculine end with an o and the things that a feminine end with an o. BuenOS is masculine and buenAS is feminine.
* In English when using exclamation marks you use them at the end of an sentence. In Spanish you use an exclamation mark in the beginning and in the end. The exclamation mark in the beginning is upside-down. An upside down exclamation mark looks like this: "¡ ". The reason for this upside down exclamation mark is that when you are reading in the Spanish language you automatically know from the beginning that this phrease/sentence is going to be said with emotion.
(5).¿Que tal?.........................................How are you?
(6). ¿Cómo val?....................................How are you?
(7). ¿Cómo estás tú?( Informal)...........How are you?
(8) ¿Cómo está usted? ( formal).............How are you?
(9) Muy bien gracias.............................Very well, thanks.
(10) Más o menos..................................Alright.
(11) Muy mal/ Terrible.......................... Awful/ Terrible
(12) ¿Y Tú ( informal).......................... And you?
(13) ¿Y Usted ( formal)..........................And you?
(14) ¡Ay,ay,ay!........................................Oh, no!
(15) ¡Que bien!.......................................Oh, good!
* In English when using question marks you use them at the end of the sentence. In Spanish you would use question marks in the beginning and ends of the sentences. Like the exclamation mark the question mark also has to be upside down in the beginning. an upside down question mark looks like this: "¿". The reason for this upside down is that when you begin to read a sentence in spanish you can automatically tell from the very beginning that a question is being asked.
Script
Informal
(SLA Hallway, standing)
D: ¡Ay, ay, ay!
(Tina enters)
D: ¡Hola! ¡Buenos días!
T: ¡Buenos días!
D: ¿Qué tal?
T: Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?
D: Estoy muy mal.
T: ¡Ay, ay, ay!
D: ¡Adíos!
T: ¡Adíos!
Formal:
(SLA Ballroom, standing)
T: ¡Buenas noches!
D: ¡Buenas noches!
T: ¿Cómo está?
D: Bien, gracias. ¿Y Usted?
T: Más o menos.
D: ¡Hasta pronto!
T: ¡Hasta pronto!
