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Goodbye

¿LO SABÍAS?

Buenas noches means both good evening and good night. So you use it both when arriving and leaving somewhere in the evening. When saying goodbye to someone you know you’ll see tomorrow, such as a colleague, you say hasta mañana (see you tomorrow).

See you…!

INTRODUCING PEOPLE

You’ll want to introduce people you know to one another. The simplest way is by saying éste es (this is) when introducing a man, and ésta es when introducing a woman.

This is…

¿LO SABÍAS?

When you’re introduced to someone, you’ll want to know how to react. The traditional encantado should only be used in formal or business situations these days, and very often people just say ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?. You would reply in the same way – ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?.

TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF

To get the conversation going, you’ll need to be able to say at least what your name is, who you are or what you do, and where you’re from. Saying what your name is is rather different in Spanish from English. You say me llamo (literally I call myself). me llamo comes from the verb llamarse. If you want to say what someone else is called you use se llama. For more information on reflexive verbs like llamarse, see here.

My name is…

I’m…

¿LO SABÍAS?

When you say what you do in Spanish, don’t include a word for a or an before your job: soy maestro (I’m a teacher), soy enfermera (I’m a nurse).

To say how old you are, use tengo followed by your age and then años (literally I have… years). tengo comes from the verb tener. For more information on tener, see here.

I’m…years old

I have…

I live…

¿LO SABÍAS?

Remember to say vivo sola rather than vivo solo if you’re female.

I’m staying…

To talk about yourself, you’ll need to be able to say how long you’ve been doing something, such as learning Spanish! One way to do this is to use hace followed by the length of time and then que and the verb in the present. For more information on the present tense, see here. You can also use llevo to mean I’ve been in examples like these.

I’ve been…for…

APOLOGIZING

There may be times when you wish to make an apology to somebody. The simplest way to do this is to say perdona (to someone you speak to as tú) and perdone (to someone you speak to as usted).

I’m sorry…

¿LO SABÍAS?

If you need to get past someone, or if you bump into them, just say perdón (excuse me or sorry).

I’m afraid that…

ASKING FOR INFORMATION

In social situations you will often want to find out more about someone or their family, job and so on. To do this use háblame (tell me).

Tell me…

You can use the next questions when chatting socially.

What’s…?

You’ll often want to find out where things are. Remember that when you use ¿Dónde…?, está is how you generally translate the word is.

Where…?

When…?

How long have…?

One very versatile way of asking someone socially how something is going or has gone is to use the phrase ¿Qué tal…? and then the noun in question. You don’t need to use any verb at all.

How…?

Sometimes you’ll want to ask why a friend or acquaintance did or didn’t do something. You can use ¿Por qué…? and a past tense to ask the question (Why…?).

Why…?

SAYING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO

When talking to friends and colleagues there’ll be plenty of things you’ll want to do together. To say what you would like to do, you can use me gustaría (I’d like). This comes from the verb gustar.

I’d like to…

Alternatively, you can use quiero followed by the infinitive. If you want someone else to do something for you, use quiero que followed by a verb in the subjunctive. For more information on the subjunctive, see here.

I want to…

You may want to ask people you know what you should do. One way to do this is to use ¿Crees que debo…? (Should I…?) followed by a verb in the infinitive. debo comes from the verb deber. For more on deber, see here.

Should I…?

EXPRESSING OPINIONS

When talking to people you know, you’ll want to say what you think of things. In Spanish there are two main ways of doing this. You can either use creo or pienso, both of which mean literally I think. Or you can use me parece, which means literally it seems to me.

I think…

¿LO SABÍAS?

Don’t forget to add que (that) after me parece, creo and pienso. It’s optional in English, but not in Spanish.

MAKING SUGGESTIONS

When you’re with friends and colleagues, you’ll probably want to suggest doing things together. One simple way of doing this is to use podríamos (we could) followed by the infinitive. podríamos comes from the verb poder. For more information on poder, see here.

We could…

Just as in English, you can also make a suggestion simply by asking ¿Por qué no…? (Why don’t…?).

Why don’t…?

Another way to make suggestions is to use ¿Y si… ? (How about…?) and a verb in the present tense.

How about…?

If you want to state your opinion, the Spanish en mi opinión is just like the English in my opinion.

In my opinion…

When you want to ask someone what they think of something, you can use the verb parecer again, only this time in the phrase ¿Qué te parece…? (What do you think of…?).

What do you think of…?

To agree or disagree with what other people say, you can use estoy de acuerdo (I agree) or no estoy de acuerdo (I don’t agree).

I agree…

¿LO SABÍAS?

Remember that contigo is the way to say with you to someone you speak to as tú.

In Spanish, the verb tener (to have) is used in the phrase tener razón (to be right). For more information on tener, see here.

You’re right…

TALKING ABOUT YOUR PLANS

You’ll want to make plans with business associates and friends. If you want to talk about a definite arrangement, for instance I’m seeing him tonight, you often use the future tense in Spanish. For more on the future tense, see here.

I’m…ing

¿LO SABÍAS?

As you’ll see in the first example above, in Spanish you say ver a alguien. For more on this use of a, see here.

In English, to talk about the future we often say I’m going to. Spanish works the same way. To say that you’re going to do something, put voy a (I’m going to) or vamos a (we’re going to) before the verb. voy and vamos come from the verb ir. For more information on ir, see here.

I’m going to…

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS

When organizing things with people you know, you can use ¿Qué te parece si…? (Will it be all right if…?) to ask if something suits them. parece comes from the verb parecer (to seem).

Will it be all right…?

To ask somebody if they would prefer you to do something, use prefieres or prefiere (depending on whether you speak to them as tú or usted) with que and the verb in the subjunctive. For more information on the subjunctive, see here.

Would you rather…?

Would it be better to…?

Are we agreed…?

¿LO SABÍAS?

¡Vale! is used to accept or to agree: ¿Vamos juntos? – ¡Vale! (Shall we go together? – OK!).

SAYING WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO

To say that you have to do something in Spanish, you can use tengo que (I have to) followed by the infinitive.

I have to…

To say that you have to do something in Spanish, you can also use debo (I must) and then the infinitive. debo comes from the verb deber. For more information on deber, see here.

I must…

To say that you should do something, use debería (I should) and then the infinitive.