Downloadable PDF + MP3 | 89+ Spanish Conversation Starters

Intro

🙋 It is very likely that “HOLA” was one of the first words you learned in Spanish.

• After all, greeting and farewell formulas are usually the first thing we learn in a new language, right?

🌈Of course, those formulas are very important for daily communication.

😏Although you can make yourself understood with a very basic repertoire of expressions (“HOLA”, “CHAO”, and “¿QUÉ TAL? “, for example), Spanish is a language with a vast array of greeting formulas.

• That is, even if you only use a handful of greeting formulas, when you talk to native Spanish speakers you will notice that they do use many more expressions to greet when they meet an acquaintance.

💡To speak  Spanish as naturally as a native does, you should get familiar with those expressions that natives use to break the ice.

• You should also know which of said formulas are standard in the language and which are more informal or slang and, in consequence, use them properly.

😉In this video you will find the 89+ phrases forgreeting, for saying goodbye and alternative ways to ask “how are you? ” in Spanish.

💡 🇪🇸 You have the same video explained entirely in Spanish with subtitles in Spanish and English. You also have the explanations in Spanish and the material to download for free, if you want to do language immersion.

Who is this Spanish greeting guide for?

😇You will see that those 89+ day-to-day formulas are simple and, above all, frequent. Therefore, the greeting guide is suitable for any student of the Spanish language.

• You do not need to have previous knowledge of Spanish to enjoy this very complete guide of typically Spanish and Latin American greetings.

⏩If you already speak a little Spanish, this guide will allow you to brush up on your Spanish skills and learn new things.

⏩If you do not speak any Spanish, you can start studying it with this guide.

• However, I advise you that your first step in Spanish should be to get familiar with the pronunciation.
• You have it in this video, which includes free material to download.
• You have a complete pronunciation guide with many audios and examples.

👨‍🎓You also have a FREE online mini-course: Spanish for  English-speaking beginners.

• The free course starts from scratch.
• The beginner’s course includes video classes, varied digital materials and a certificate.
• You sign up with two clicks and you can learn at your own pace, without deadlines.
• You have a preview of the course that you can access without having to enroll.

⏩ Free course preview  (sneak peek), with many free learning tips, available here, no registration needed.

🎓You can also check out this Spanish class available without having to sign up for the course.

🇪🇸 At the end of this post, you have Spanish videos for English speakers with PDF and MP3 to download– FOR FREE 🎁.

Do I need to know all those formulas to speak Spanish?

🔝If you do not want to consider these 89+ phrases a priority in your Spanish learning process now, you do not need to learn them systematically.

🔎I advise you to – at least – watch the video to make these phrases sound familiar. Little by little you can actively incorporate them into your Spanish vocabulary.

👍If you consider those 89+ phrases to be too many for you at this point in your learning process, that is okay.

• You can manage perfectly a more limited repertoire of greetings and farewell formulas in Spanish.

🎬In fact, in this video (which has explanations and extra material to practice for free) you will learn the 38+ most basic formulas of the Spanish language.

• The free guide includes greetings, goodbyes, ways to ask and answer “how are you?” and basic politeness formulas.

💡 🇪🇸 The same video is available in Spanish with subtitles in Spanish and English. You will also find the content entirely in Spanish, if you want to do language immersion.

🧐My advice is:

• If you do not know any greeting phrase, start by learning the 38+ formulas from the most basic guide.
• If you already know those basic greeting phrases, delve into this topic with the comprehensive guide with 89+ greetings.

😎And if you want to continue exploring the Spanish language, there is the first video in this series with short videos with the most relevant Spanish phrases for English-speaking beginners. The free guide includes further explanation and free material to practice.

What you are going to learn in this Spanish guide for beginners

In the guide with the 89+ phrases to break the ice in Spanish you will learn:

• Greeting formulas in Spanish for English speakers.
• Goodbye formulas in Spanish for English speakers.
• The different ways of asking “how are you?” and answering in Spanish for English speakers.
• Informal expressions and slang for these communicative situations.
• Expressions to address a friend in  colloquial Spanish (in Spain and Latin America).
• Different ways of saying “UN BESO” 😘 and “UN ABRAZO” 🤗 in Spanish.

Spanish material for English speakers: greetings, farewells, “how are you?”

❗Attention: some phrases vary depending on whether the speaker is a man or a woman. I indicate that variation with the comma (,).

• For example, “Estoy cansado. , Estoy cansada.” The first phrase is the one that a man will say to indicate tiredness and the second, the one that a woman will use.

🧔🥱💬 “ESTOY CANSADO”

👩‍🦰🥱💬 “ESTOY CANSADA”

❗Attention: I will indicate informal expressions with an asterisk (*) and slang phrases with two asterisks (**).

In this Spanish guide  for English speakers you will find:

📝The PDF with theory, exercises, answers and summary to download for free.

🎧The audio with the vocabulary only in Spanish to download for free.

🎧The audio with the vocabulary in Spanish and English to download for free.

🎧Tables with vocabulary and audios.  🐌You can reduce the playback speed of the audios, if you prefer.

📌Interactive cards with Spanish vocabulary. You can choose your preferred gaming or learning mode.

📌Interactive cards with Spanish/English vocabulary. You can choose your preferred gaming or learning mode.

🖋A quiz at the end of this post to practice what you learned.

The main greetings in Spanish: phrases for English speakers

🎬Video: starting on minute 02:56

*¡Hola!	to greet, informally
¡Buenos días!	to greet (morning/during the day)
¡Buenas tardes!	to greet (afternoon)
¡Buenas noches!	to greet (evening/night)
*¡Buenas! / ¡Muy buenas!	to greet (afternoon/evening/night), informally

The main farewells in Spanish: phrases for English speakers

🎬Video: starting on minute 04:45

*¡Chao!	to say goodbye, informally
¡Hasta ahora! / ¡Hasta ahorita!	See you later!
¡Hasta pronto!	See you soon!
¡Hasta mañana!	See you tomorrow!
¡Hasta la próxima semana!	See you next week!
¡Hasta la próxima!	See you next time!
¡Hasta la vista!	See you!
¡Hasta otro día!	See you!
¡Hasta otra!	See you!
¡Hasta otro rato!	See you!
¡Nos vemos!	See you!
¡A ver si nos vemos! / ¡Tenemos que quedar!	Hope we can see each other! / We should meet!
¡Adiós!	to say goodbye, formally
¡Ve con Dios! / ¡Vaya con Dios!	“May God be with you!” (farewell)
¡Que Dios te/le acompañe!	“May God be with you!” (farewell)
¡Que vaya bien!	“I hope everyting goes well!”
Venga, un saludo.	“Ok, greetings!”
Venga, un abrazo.	“Ok, a hug!”
Venga, un beso.	“Ok, a kiss!”
¡Buen día!	Have a nice day!
¡Buen fin de semana! / *¡Buen finde!	Have a nice weekend!
¡Feliz viernes!	Have a good Friday!
¡Buena semana!	Have a good week!
¡Que descanses!	Get some rest!
¡A pasarla bien! = ¡A disfrutar!	Have a good time!
¡Suerte!	Good luck!

The main Spanish formulas to ask “how are you?” and how to react to them: phrases for English speakers

🎬Video: starting on minute 18:03

¿Qué tal?	How are you?
¿Cómo estás? / ¿Cómo está?	How are you?
¿Cómo vas? / ¿Cómo va?	How are you?
¿Cómo te encuentras? / ¿Cómo se encuentra?	How are you feeling?
Bien, gracias, ¿y tú? / Bien, gracias, ¿y usted?	Well, thank you, how about you?
*Como Dios.	Great! (informal)
*En la gloria (de Dios).	Great! (informal)
Mejor, imposible.	As good as it gets!
Fenomenal. = Estupendamente.	Great!
Muy contento. , Muy contenta.	Very happy!
No me puedo quejar.	I can’t complain.
Muy liado. , Muy liada.	Very busy.
Regular. = Normal.	I am ok.
*Pues por aquí. = Ahí, ahí. = Ni fu ni fa. = Tirando. = Tirandillo. = Aquí andamos. = He estado mejor.	So-so! (informal)
*Vamos pa’lante, como el elefante.	I am ok. (informal), literally: “moving forward, like the elephant”
Mal. = Fatal. = Horrible.	Not good.
Estoy un poco enfermo. , Estoy un poco enferma.	I am a little ill.
Estoy malo. , Estoy mala.	I am ill.
*Estoy pachucho. ,  Estoy pachucha.	I am under the weather. (informal)
Estoy cansado. , Estoy cansada.	I am tired.
¿Todo bien? = ¿Todo en orden?	Everything OK?
Todo bien. = Todo en orden.	Everything OK.
Más o menos.	Not so good.
¿Qué tal de salud?	How is your health?
¿Cómo va la familia?	How is your family doing?
Y de trabajo, ¿qué tal?	How are things at work?
¿Cómo van las cosas?	How are things?

Informal and slang formulas to ask “how are you?” in Spanish: phrases for English speakers

🎬Video: starting on minute 36:16

*¿Cómo va eso? = ¿Cómo va la cosa? = ¿Cómo está la cosa?	What’s up? (informal)
*¿Qué me cuentas?	What’s up? (informal)
*¿Qué hay (de nuevo)?	What’s new with you? (informal)
*¿Qué pasa?	What’s up? (informal) – Spain
*¿Qué pasó?	What’s up? (informal) – Latin America
*¿Qué fue?	What’s up? (informal) – Latin America
*¿Cómo te ha ido?	What’s up? (informal)
*¿Cómo andas?	What’s up? (informal)
*¿Cómo andamos?	What’s up? (informal)
*Y tú, ¿qué?	How about you? (informal)
**¿Qué onda?	What’s up? (slang) – Mexico
**¿Qué bolá?	What’s up? (slang) – Cuba
**Bien, ¿o qué?	What’s up? (slang) – some regions in South America
**¿Quihubo?	What’s up? (slang) – some regions in South America
**¿Qué más, pues?	What’s up? (slang – some regions in South America
**¿Qué lo qué?	What’s up? (slang) – some regions in Latin America

Colloquial expressions to address a friend in Spanish

**tío	dude, bro (slang)- Spain
**güey = wey	dude, bro  (slang)- México
**asere	dude, bro  (slang)- Cuba
**parce	dude, bro (slang)- Colombia
**pana	dude, bro  (slang)- some regions in South America
*chicos , chicas	guys (informal)

Informal greeting and farewell formulas in Spanish: phrases for English speakers

*Holita.	Hello! (informal and “cutesy”)
*Adiosito.	Bye! (informal and “cutesy”)
*Hola, caracola.	Hello. (informal)
*Estoy feliz como una lombriz.	I am happy as a clam. (informal), literally: “I am happy as a worm”
*Estoy feliz como un regaliz.	I am happy as a clam. (informal), literally: “I am happy as liquorice”
*Estoy feliz como una perdiz.	I am happy as a clam. (informal), literally: “I am happy as a partridge”
*Hasta luego, cocodrilo.	See you later, alligator! (informal) (literal)
*Chao, bacalao. = Chao, pescao’.	See you later, alligator! (informal): literally: “bye, cod” / “bye, fish”
*Hasta luego, Lucas.	See you later, alligator! (informal) (Spain), literally: “see you later, Lucas”
*Sayonara, baby.	“Hasta la vista, baby” (Spanish translation!)
**Me piro! = ¡Me abro! = ¡Me largo!	I am off! (slang)
*¡Hasta nunca!	See you never! (informal)
*¡Que te vaya bonito!	I wish you well. (sarcastic)

How to say “kiss” and “hug” in Spanish: vocabulary for English speakers

🎬Video: starting on minute 46:31

un abrazo	a hug
un beso	a kiss
un besito	a kiss
un besote	a kiss
un beso muy fuerte	a big  kiss
un beso muy gordo	a big  kiss

A free quiz, so you can put your knowledge to test!

There is always at least one wrong answer to each question.

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