I Know What I Want but You Don in Spanish
"Hey, what'southward up?"
"How'south it going?"
"How have you been?"
In our everyday encounters with other people, we use these phrases over and over.
They aren't but simple questions—in fact, sometimes they aren't really questions at all—but variations on a very commonplace greeting.
This type of greeting isn't so different in Spanish, yet if yous'veever spent more than 5 minutes in a Spanish classroom, you may remember y'all've already learned everything about how to say "How are you lot?" in Spanish that there is to know.
Peradventure your teacher or your language partner starts every session with "¿Cómo estás?"
And you lot respond, by memory, with "Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?"
This is a totally fine exchange, and it'll suffice as a uncomplicated greeting.
But, let'south be honest: It tin can become a picayune tedious. It's also just non realistic to assume that all your Spanish conversations with native speakers volition go this way.
In this post, y'all'll acquire eight other means to say "How are yous?" in Spanish that are a little more exciting.
Nosotros'll even provide some advisable responses.
Download: This weblog postal service is available as a user-friendly and portable PDF that y'all can have anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
The Basic Greeting: ¿Cómo Estás?
You take to learn the nuts before you can motility past them, of form.
The near basic greeting that you would employ to ask "How are you?" to one person, in an breezy setting, is:
¿Cómo estás? (How are yous?)
A slight variation on this greeting is ¿Cómo estás tú? This means exactly the same thing, merely includes the optional pronoun tú (you).
In Spanish, the way you conjugate a verb changes depending on how many people y'all're addressing, and on whether you're in a formal or breezy situation. In this instance, the important verb is estar (to be).
(If y'all're unclear on verb conjugation, cheque out this basic guide to conjugating the Spanish present tense.)
So, depending on who you're speaking to, you may have to slightly conform your conjugation. For each of the examples beneath, I'll provide the appropriate pronoun in parentheses. Merely like tú in the example to a higher place, these pronouns are optional and do not affect the meaning of the sentence.
¿Cómo está (usted)?
The pronoun usted refers to a singular "you" in a formal situation. Use this greeting when talking to a stranger, someone much older than y'all or someone in a position of superiority. For example, you might use ¿Cómo está? when greeting your friend's grandpa, your boss, your professor, the queen of Spain so on.
¿Cómo están (ustedes)?
Ustedes refers to a plural "y'all." Use information technology when greeting 2 or more people at the same time.
Beyond Latin America, ustedes can be used in formal or breezy situations. In Spain, it'south used exclusively in formal situations (similar usted).
¿Cómo estáis (vosotros)?
If you happen to exist speaking Castilian in Spain, use vosotros when talking to a grouping of people in an informal situation, such equally when y'all're speaking to a group of friends.
There are many ways to respond to the greeting "How are you?"
In Spanish, a safe response is:
Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú? (Fine, cheers. And you?)
This is a polite and uncomplicated way to keep the conversation going.
Of course, if you're in a formal situation or talking to more than than one person, you'll want to substitute tú for usted, ustedes or vosotros where appropriate.
Why You lot Should Become Beyond the Nuts with "How Are You?"
Sure, the in a higher place volition get yous through bones Castilian conversations. But why stop there? At that place are tons of ways to greet and exist greeted in Castilian—it'due south a proficient idea to know more than than one.
Learning alternate greetings can allow you to vary your tone to suit more formal or casual situations. You wouldn't greet your best friend the same way y'all would greet a client, correct? Information technology's the same in Castilian—different greetings sound more natural in different visitor.
Plus, varying your spoken language patterns helps you sound more than like a native speaker. I'll bet when you talk in English, yous don't constantly echo the phrase "How are you?" You lot probably change information technology up with phrases similar "How'due south it going?" or "What'due south going on?" Moving beyond "How are you?" means moving beyond classroom Spanish and learning existent-world Spanish.
Not to mention, learning slangy alternatives to common phrases can be a lot of fun. If you're ever unsure about a slang term, language learner forums similar the ones at WordReference can be great resources.
Finally, it's skillful to aggrandize your vocabulary because—duh!—native speakers will use these phrases when they talk to you! When they do, you'll want to empathize and exist able to respond.
"How Are You?" in Spanish: viii Ways to Change Upwardly This Greeting
For each of these greetings, I'll let you know how to politely respond. You can, of course, also respond to any of these greetings by letting your conversation partner know how you're actually doing.
Simply when you're talking with strangers or acquaintances, it'due south expert to know how to requite a noncommittal response like "It's all good" or "Oh, null much."
Unclear on how to pronounce whatsoever of the words in this post? Forvo is a great resources with oversupply-sourced pronunciations provided by native speakers.
Desire to see these in action? We've got you covered in that location, too! Learn Castilian greetings so much more than with FluentU.
¿Cómo andas (tú)?
The verb andar means "to walk" or "to go," and so this greeting is like to the English "How's it going?" It'south slightly more than coincidental and slangy than the basic ¿Cómo estás?
Andar is a regular -ar verb, so its other conjugations are:
¿Cómo anda (usted)?
¿Cómo andan (ustedes)?
¿Cómo andáis (vosotros)?
Y'all tin can answer to this in the same way you would respond to ¿Cómo estás? An reply like Bien (practiced), Bastante bien (pretty adept) or Muy bien (very expert) is appropriate.
¿Qué me cuentas?
This greeting is quite slangy. It literally translates to "What do you tell me?" Recollect of it as a Spanish equivalent to the English "What's going on?"
It would be a little awkward to use this greeting in the usted form since information technology'south and so informal—simply here are all of the conjugations merely in instance.
Forusted: ¿Qué me cuenta?
For ustedes: ¿Qué me cuentan?
For vosotros: ¿Qué me contáis?
Note here that contar is a stem-changing verb!
If someone asked you "What's going on?" in English language, you might respond with "Oh, non much." It's like in Spanish. If someone asks you ¿Qué me cuentas? y'all might respond with something similar:
Nothing.(Nothing.)
Nada en especial.(Nothing special.)
Lo normal.(The usual.)
No mucho.(Non much.)
It would sound a little strange to respond with something similar Bien, gracias. This might be tricky to keep track of, but if yous practice enough, you'll unconsciously start to realize what response sounds right and what sounds bad-mannered.
¿Cómo te va?
This greeting translates to something similar "How's information technology going?" It can be used in formal or informal situations. In this case, to change the greeting you'll take to change the indirect object pronoun from te to le, les or os.
For usted: ¿Cómo le va?
For ustedes: ¿Cómo les va?
For vosotros: ¿Cómo os va?
When responding to this, you can re-use the verb va (it goes), from the infinitiveir(to become).
Me va bien.(It'due south going well.)
Me va mal.(It'south going badly.)
You can replace bien or mal with any other appropriate describing word y'all can recall of. Some examples are espectacular (spectacular), genial (great), normal (normal), regular (just okay) or terrible (terrible).
¿Cómo va todo?
Very similar to the last one, this phrasetranslates to "How's everything going?"
Luckily, in this case there are no verbs to conjugate and no indirect objects to change effectually—you lot can utilize this same greeting regardless of what situation you're in.
To reply, you can say Va todo ___, filling in whatever adjective suits your mood. (Encounter in a higher place for examples.)
¿Cómo van las cosas?
This greeting means "How are things?" Like the previous case, there is no need for conjugation hither, since the verb van (they become) refers to the noun las cosas (the things).
If somebody asks you lot this, you can respond with a simple Bien (good) or Mal (bad), or y'all can make a full sentence such as:
Las cosas van bien.(Things are going well.)
¿Qué tal?
Thisis an informal greeting to be used amongst friends in a casual setting. Information technology is similar to the English "What'south up?"
However, unlike the English language "What's up?" yous should not answer to ¿Qué tal? with "Cipher much" or any variant thereof. Instead, respond with an describing word—bien, mal, regular, genial, terrible,etc.—like you lot would respond to¿Cómo estás?
¿Qué hay?
This super informal greeting literally translates to "What is in that location?" and should merely exist used in very casual, friendly situations. You lot tin recollect of information technology as a shortening of ¿Qué hay de nuevo? (What'south new?). Once more, no conjugations to worry about hither.
A good, appropriately coincidental response to this greeting would exist something like Todo bien (all skilful) or No me quejo (can't complain).
¿Qué pasa?
This Spanish greeting has crossed over into English language-linguistic communication slang, so yous may already exist familiar with information technology! It'south another super colloquial way to ask "What's upwardly?" or "What'southward going on?"
A normal response would be some variant ofNadaorLo normal.Run across the section on¿Qué me cuentas?for some examples of good responses.
The side by side time yous take to greet someone in Spanish, move out of your comfort zone!
You wouldn't just echo "How are you?" over and over again in your native language, and there's no reason to practise so in Spanish.
Native speakers will pick upward on your varied vocabulary, and it'll make you sound much more natural.
Download: This web log postal service is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you tin accept anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Source: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/how-are-you-in-spanish/
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