Spanish people are, generally speaking, warm and friendly. They also don’t mind physical contact and are quite an affectionate bunch on the whole.
If you’re going to learn Spanish, then the first thing you need to know is how to greet people appropriately. Just like in English, there are ways you’d go about greeting your friends that you wouldn’t use with your boss or grandmother.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to both formal and informal greetings in Spanish so that you’ll always be able to say hello in the most appropriate way!
Why are greetings important?
First impressions count and you don’t get a second chance of making one. No matter the situation you’re in, the person you meet will get an immediate impression of you.
According to research, it takes a person just seven seconds to make a first impression so you need to get your greetings right! Greetings are a basic courtesy in society and they’re a straightforward way of showing another person that you’re respectful and friendly.
Greetings are common across all cultures but each language and culture is different. In Spanish, the rules are much more clearly defined and there are clear informal and formal greetings in Spanish. You’ll also need to pay attention to gender for some expressions. Let’s start with the formal ones.
When to use formal and informal greetings in Spanish
Generally speaking, you would use formal language and usted with:
- Elders
- Strangers (or people who are unfamiliar to you)
- Professionals
- Your boss or manager
- Teachers
You would use informal language and tú with:
- Friends
- Family members
- Equals
- Peers
- Children
Formal greetings in Spanish
If you’re meeting someone in a business situation or out running errands like shopping, posting a letter, or going to the bank, you’ll need formal ways to greet someone in Spanish.
The simplest greeting to learn is hola (hello). This can be used wherever you go, no matter the time of day. Though not particularly formal, hola won’t be seen as rude or too familiar.
Other formal greetings include buenos días (good morning), buenas tardes (good afternoon), and buenas noches (good evening/good night).
A good way of remembering when to use buenas tardes and buenas noches is to consider when the sunset is. In the summer months, you’d probably say buenas noches for longer than you would in the winter.
Other greetings
Besides saying hello or good morning, it’s usually common courtesy to ask someone how they are. When you don’t know the person or it is a formal situation, you would ask them ¿cómo está? (how are you?). If there is more than one person you’re greeting, this would be ¿cómo están?
It’s also a good idea to know some other phrases including, mucho gusto (pleased to meet you), gusto en verlo (pleased to meet you – to one person), and gusto en verlos (pleased to meet you – to more than one person). An alternative is encantado or encantada.
Finally, if you’re welcoming someone to your place of work, for example, you’d need bienvenido (welcome). This would need to change in gender and number, depending on whom you’re greeting.
| Spanish | English |
| Hola | Hello |
| Buenos días | Good morning |
| Buenas tardes | Good afternoon |
| Buenas noches | Good evening/good night |
| ¿Cómo está? | How are you? (singular) |
| ¿Cómo están? | How are you? (plural) |
| Mucho gusto | Pleased to meet you |
| Encantado / encantada | Pleased to meet you (more formal than mucho gusto) |
| Gusto en verlo | Pleased to meet you (singular) |
| Gusto en verlos | Pleased to meet you (plural) |
| Bienvenido/a/os/as | Welcome |
Responses
If there are questions asking, ‘how are you?’ then it’s also a good idea to know some responses too!
Here is a selection:
- Bien, gracias (fine, thank you)
- Un poco cansado/a (a little tired)
- Mal (unwell)
- Enfermo/a (ill)
- Regular (ok)
Don’t forget to say goodbye appropriately too! Adíos (goodbye) is usually the most common phrase but you might also use que tenga un buen día (have a good day).
Informal greetings in Spanish
If you’re greeting someone in an informal situation, you’d use a different language. If you’re unsure what denotes a formal or an informal situation, always err on the side of caution – it’s better to be seen as too formal rather than overly familiar and unprofessional!
Hola is also fine to use with informal connections. To ask how they are, you’d use ¿cómo estás? Or ¿qué tal? Both mean ‘how are you?’
You could also use ¿qué hay de nuevo?, which means ‘what’s new?’ Similarly, you use ¿cómo te/les va? (how’s it going? Singular/plural), ¿qué onda? (what’s up?), ¿qué pasa? (what’s up?), and ¿cómo val las cosas? (how are things?).
If you’re really informal with someone and know them extremely well, you might use oye (hey!), ¿en qué andas? (what’re you up to?), ¿cómo estamos? (how are we doing?), and ¿qué pasa, calabraza? (what’s up, pumpkin? – a bit like us saying ‘what’s up, buttercup?’ for the rhyme. You can see more funny Spanish idioms here.).
Colloquial use
If you’re struggling with when to use buenos días, buenas tardes and buenas noches as common greetings in Spanish, you can just say buenas. This can be used all day and is informal. It’s a bit like saying ‘morning!’, ‘afternoon!’, or ‘evening!’ instead of ‘good morning,’ ‘good afternoon,’ and ‘good evening’ in English.
You might also hear people saying buen día instead of buenos días, which is more colloquial and familiar.
Saying goodbye
When it comes to informal greetings in Spanish, there are lots of ways to say goodbye. When adios seems too formal, you can say hasta luego (see you later), hasta pronto (see you soon), hasta la próxima (until next time), chao (bye), nos vemos mañana (see you tomorrow), or cuídate (take care).
| Spanish | English |
| ¿Qué tal? | How are you? |
| ¿Cómo estás? | How are you? |
| ¿Qué hay de nuevo? | What’s new? |
| ¿Cómo te/les va? | How’s it going? Singular/plural |
| ¿Qué onda? | What’s up? |
| ¿Qué pasa? | What’s up? |
| ¿Cómo estamos? | How are we doing? |
| Oye | Hey |
| Buenas | Morning! Afternoon! Evening! |
| Buen día | Good morning |
| ¿En qué andas? | What’re you up to? |
| ¿Qué pasa, calabraza? | What’s up, buttercup? |
| Hasta luego | See you later |
| Hasta pronto | See you soon |
| Hasta la próxima | Until next time |
| Chao | Bye |
| Nos vemos mañana | See you tomorrow |
| Cuídate | Take care |
Greetings in the written word
Let’s face it, a lot of our communication these days is in the written form, whether that be text messages, on WhatsApp, or via email. Formal and formal Spanish has its place here too, as you might expect!
Formal greetings in an email would require querido (Dear… when writing to a man), or querida (Dear… when writing to a woman).
For really formal correspondence and when you don’t know the person’s name, you would use a quien puede interesar (to whom it may concern), a quien corresponda (to whom it may concern), estimado señor o señora (Dear Sir or Madam), or estimado/a señor/señora/señorita (Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms).
Informal correspondence isn’t as challenging. You can simply use hola (hello) to start.
Signing off
Just like you’d say bye in person, you also need to sign off written correspondence appropriately too.
For formal correspondence, you would use saludos cordiales (best regards), atentamente (sincerely), cordialmente (faithfully), or quedo a la espera de sus noticias (I look forward to hearing from you).
For more informal correspondence, you can use un saludo (cheers), saludos (best), seguimos en contacto (let’s keep in touch), espero saber de ti pronto (hope to hear from you soon), con cariño (love), or mantente en contacto (keep in touch).
| Spanish | English |
| Querido/a | Dear (formal) |
| a quien puede interesar | to whom it may concern (formal) |
| a quien corresponda | to whom it may concern (formal) |
| saludos cordiales | best regards (formal) |
| atentamente | Sincerely (formal) |
| cordialmente | Faithfully (formal) |
| quedo a la espera de sus noticias | I look forward to hearing from you (formal) |
| un saludo | Cheers (informal) |
| saludos | Best (informal) |
| seguimos en contacto | Let’s keep in touch (informal) |
| espero saber de ti pronto | Hope to hear from you soon (informal) |
| con cariño | Love (informal) |
| mantente en contacto | keep in touch (informal) |
Final thoughts
When it comes to Spanish greetings and responses, it pays to get it right. Though your peers won’t mind so much if you’re a little too formal with them (they’ll probably even tell you so!), formalities matter to strangers, elders, managers, and bosses to name a few.
And while they might forgive you because you’re not a native speaker, it’s always better to get it right the first time. After all, you can’t change that first impression!