Monday 12 March 2007

Lesson 1: Greetings

How do you greet someone in Spanish?

¡Hola! / Hello!
¡Buenos días! / Good morning!
¡Buenas tardes! / Good afternoon!
¡Buenas noches! Good evening! / Good night!

How about: Hi, How are you?

The formal and informal way to say it.

FORMAL
Buenos días, ¿Cómo está? / Hola, ¿Cómo está?
INFORMAL
Hola, ¿Cómo estás?

I also have the habbit of greeting my closest and cool friends with a WASSUP?

¿Qué tal? / ¿Qué fué? / ¿Qué pasa? / ¿Qué onda?

* Always remember that when you write a question in Spanish, there will always be two question marks, one at the begining of a sentence(¿) and one at the end (?).

Now let's answer the questions we have just learnt.

FORMAL
Buenos días, ¿Cómo está? / Good morning, how are you?
Yo estoy muy bien gracias, ¿y usted cómo está? / I am very good thanks, and how are you?
INFORMAL
Hola, ¿comó estás? / Hello, how are you?
Yo estoy muy bien gracias, ¿y tú cómo estás? / Im very good, and you?
PLURAL

Hola / Buenos días, ¿Cómo están? / Hello, how are you?
Nosotros estamos muy bien gracias, ¿y ustedes cómo están? / We are very good thanks, and how are you?

* And well, as you and I know 'Wassup?' can be answered in so many ways, as it depends on what you want to say. I will give you a few ways in which I usually answer.

¿Qué fué? / Wassup?
Bien, ¿Y tu? / Good, and you?
Todo bien, ¿y tú? / Everything is good, and you?
Estoy chévere, ¿y tú? / I'm cool, and you?

* You can still say 'cool' instead of '
chévere' because 'cool' is such a common word among spanish speakers, especially teenagers.

Well I hope you had fun with my first lesson. Now next time you go to that Spanish restaurant or see your spanish friend, don't say 'hello' say 'hola!' Trust me, its just so cute to hear a foreigner greet in Spanish, simply because they don't expect it.

Hasta la vista student!