Let's say you're in a new country. You want to make a new friend since you don't have any in that country. Basic conversation can get you far. You can ask someone their name by asking "Como te llamas?" They would then tell you their name and ask for yours. Tell them your name by saying, "Me llamo (your name)." or ""Mi nombre es (your name)."After you guys are finished talking, you can say, "Mucho gusto." This shows your appreciation of meeting him/her. They would then say "Igualmente" which means likewise. You just made a new friend.

We'll break things up so we won't confuse you. Greetings consist of words such as "¡Hola!", "¡Buenos Dias!", "¡Buenas Tardes!", and "¡Buenas Noches!." "¡Hola!" means "hello!." You would normally say this to greet someone in a day to day basis. There are also "¡Buenos Dias!" which means "good morning", "¡Buenas Tardes" which means "good evening", and "¡Buenas Noches!" which means "good night." Now for "How are you?" The simplest way to say this is "¿Como estás?" You would usually say this to your friends. You could also say "¿Como está?" if you're speaking to an adult. For "Goodbyes," the most universal saying is "¡Adios!" This just simply means "bye!" Some other versions of "Bye" can be "¡Hasta Luego!" which means "See you later!" And ¡Hasta Pronto!" which means "See you soon!"

When people see each other, they usually greet each other. Whether it's an "¡Hola!" or a "¡Buenos Dias!" When people greet each other, they usually tend to ask how they (to each other) are. They usually ask "¿Como Estas?" or "¿Qué Tal?" After they have chatted, they will need to go. And this is where "Goodbyes" come in. Just simply say an "¡Adios! or ¡Hasta Luego!"

   Hi in this explanation you will learn how to greet someone, ask them how they are doing, and say goodbye.  For this it is very important to remember the different way's that you say hi, for you to understand how to ask someone how they are, and how to say goodbye in different ways.

     For saying hi there are a few different forms.  In the morning you say buenos dias(Bwe-nos De-as), in the afternoon you say buenos tardes(Bwe-nos tar-des), and in the evening you say buenos noches(Bwe-nos no-che).  If you forget these then hola(Ola) works anytime of the day, but remember that the h is silent.

    When asking how someone is you can say a few things.  You can say ¿Que tal?(K-Tall), or ¿Como esta(s) (Ud)?(Ko-mo es-tas), or even ¿Como va?(Ko-mo va).  Que tal is a more general form of this and can be used in every situation, but it is always a good idea to say ¿Como esta(s) (ud)?.

Responding to this question is as simple as saying how you feel.  For ex. "¿Como estas?" "Muy bien."  This means i'm good.  Another thing to say is "Muy mal."(m-ui m-al) which means i'm terrible.  The other things that you can say are:  Estoy...

1) Bien(byen)-Good

2) Infeirmo(in-fer-ie-mo)-Sick

3) Cansado(can-sado)-Tired

4) Emocionado(Emo-cio-nado)- Excited

5) Mas o Menos(Mas oh men-os)- Allright

    Saying goodbye is like sying hi and asking how are you in the way that you can say it many ways.  You can say adios(Ad-ios) (bye), hasta luego (asta Lu-e-go) (see you soon), or hasta mañana(asta Ma-ny-na) (see you tomorow). These are all exceptable and if you say one of these people will understand you.

    When a person walks up to you they say,"Hola,¿Como esta?  It is polite to respond by saying,"Mas o menos, gracias."

  Tu vs. Ud. is a simple concept.  Tu is something you say to someone that you are of equal age to or you are older then them. It is used the informal form of a word.  Ud. (Usted) is something that you would say to someone you respect.  It is the formal version.  For spanish words their are a lot of different situations that require these different forms. For example:  Asking how an old man is doing,"¿Como esta ud?", and asking how a child is doing,"¿Como estas tu?"

Real life application:

An old man walks up to you and asks you "¿como estás tu?" and you answer "muy bien y usted." He says "muy bien gracias."

Courtesy phrases are simply saying please, thank you and excuse me.  To say please in spanish say,"Por favor."(Por Fav-or). To say thank you in spanish is,"Gracias,"(Grac-ias).  There are a few ways to say excuse me in spanish, one is,"Perdón."(Per-don) which yo say when you bump into someone, another is,"Disculpe."(Dis-cul-pe) which you say to get someones attention, and the third way is to say,"Con permiso."(Con per-mi-so) which you say when saying excuse me. These are the courtesy phrases.

    Describing weather conditions is a important part of your spanish education.  When describing weather patterns it is good to remember two things.  You can either say,"Hace....."(A-ce) which you would use when saying,"It is hot.", or,"Esta......"(esta) which you would use when saying,"It is raining."

    These are the words that you would use after saying hace:

1) Frio(f-rio) cold

2) Calor(cal-or) hot

3) Sol(s-ol) warm

4) Viento (v-i-e-ntio) windy

5) Fresco(fres-co) cool

   When using esta you would say:

1) lloviendo(y-ov-i-e-ndo) raining

2) nevando(ne-va-n-do) snowing

3) nublado(nu-bla-do) cloudy

   When asking for the weather you can ask,"Que tiempo hace hoy."(k te-ie-mpo a-ce oy) which means how is the weather today.  If you replace hoy with mañana(m-a-ny-a-na) you are asking for the weather tomorrow.

    When asking for the temparture you say,"¿Cual es la temparatura?"(cual es la temp-ar-a-tur-a).  Responding to this you say,"Es el ____grados."(es el ____gr-ad-os).

    Say your asking your mom what the weather is like so you know how to dress.  You ask her,"¿Que tiempo hace hoy?".  She responds by saying," Hace muy calor."

    Asking for the time is important in every language.  Imagine that your on a cruise and your ship is going to leave in 1 hour.  You are in a spanish speaking country and you need to ask what time it is so your ship wouldn't leave without you.  That's when asking what time it is would be involuntarily important.

    You can ask what time it is three ways.  You can say,"¿Que hora son?"(k ora s-on),"¿Que hora es?"(k ora es), or "¿Que hora tiene?"(k ora t-ie-nes).  Que hora es is the most commonly used one of these three.

    In order to answer these questions you would say,"Son las ____."(s-on las___) which is used for everything above 1 o'clock.  In order to say 1o'clock you would say,"Es la una."  In order  to say times that don't exactly fall upon the hour you add on,"y ____."(eee).  To say something is at a certain time you say,"A la ___."(ah la)  There are easier ways to say certain times, though, are quarto for 15, and media for thirty.  You can also say,"Menos (Any number over 45)."(men-os).

    Say a friend comes up to you and asks you what time you get out of school by saying," Cuando nos vamos de la squela."(quand-oh nos vam-os de la sque-la)  You say," A la tres de quarto." in response.

    Maybe your taking a test in spanish, and you need to write the date in spanish.  Then this lesson will be pretty useful.  When asking for the date you say,"¿Cual es la fecha de hoy?"(Cu-al es la fe-cha de oy).  The proper response is,"Hoy es el (Date) de (Month)."  For the date you just say the number of the date. Fro ex. 10=dies. For the month you say one of the following:

1) Enero(en-er-oh)-January

2) Febrero(feb-rer-oh)-February

3) Marzo(mar-zo)-March

4) Abril(ab-ril)-April

5) Mayo(my-oh)-May

6) Junio(hune-io)-June

7) Julio(hul-io)-July

8) Agosto(ag-ohs-t-oh)-August

9) Septiembre(sep-tiem-bre)-Septiembre

10) Octubre(oh-ctub-re)-October

11) Noviembre(nov-iemb-re)-November

12) Deciembre(desi-iembre)-December

    You are in school and you are taking a test.  You need to ask your friend who only speaks spanish what the date is.  You say,"¿Cual es la fecha de hoy?".   Your friend then says,"Hot es el diese ocho de septiembre.

Monday-lunes (lu-nes)

Tuesday- martes (mart-es)

Wednesday- miércoles (mier-coles)

Thursday- jueves(hue-ves)

Friday- viernes (vier-nes)

Saturday- sábado (sab-ado)

Sunday- domingo (dom-ingo)

In order to ask what day today is say ¿Qué día es hoy? (K- dia-es-oy)

In order to answer what is today is say hoy día es _________. (oy-dia-es)

The days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized.

Real life application:

Your friend walks up to you and asks you what day today is by saying "¿Qué día es hoy?" He answers "hoy día es jueves."