Welcome to Free Spanish Lessons. In this post you will learn how to say basic introductions and phrases in Spanish, and all for free. Learn how to say "Hello", "How are you?", "What's up?", "What's going on?" in Spanish.
All conversations in Spanish, as in English, begin with a greeting (Hello).
Below are two lists of greetings categorized by their appropriateness in formal or informal conversations.
1. Greetings appropriate for both formal and informal conversations.
Hola- Hello (this is the most standard greeting)
Buenos dias - Good morning
Buenas tardes - Good afternoon
Buenas noches - Good evening/Good night (it used as a greeting)
This formal phrase/question is part of most standard formal greetings. In a formal conversation it is used in conjunction with a form of “hello.”
¿Como esta usted? - How are you? (Como - How) (esta - are) (usted - you (formal))
Response: Basic responses to this question are bien (good), mal (bad), asi asi (so so), or mas o menos (more or less/alright). Your individual response is based on how you feel.
Por ejemplo (for example):
Juan - Hola Pablo. ¿Como esta usted?
Pablo - Bien, ¿y usted?
Translation
Juan (John) - Hello Pablo (Paul). How are you?
Pablo (Paul) - Good, and you?
2. Informal greetings.
Oye - Hey
These phrases/questions are used as greetings in informal conversations or they can be used in conjunction with a form of “hello:”
¿Que pasa? - What’s up?
Response: Basic responses to this question are nada (nothing) or an explanation of what you are doing (you will learn how to do this in time), much like in English.
Further explanation: In English when someone posses the question “What’s up?” the most common response is nothing, however sometimes people do explain “what is up” with them. People do not answer the question “What’s up?” with “good” or “alright.” It is the same concept in Spanish.
¿Que onda? - What’s going on?
Response: Basic responses to this question are nada (nothing) or an explanation of what you are doing, much like in English and similar to the concept addressed with “¿Que pasa?”
¿Que tal? - How are you?
Response: Basic responses to this question are bien (good), mal (bad), asi asi (so so), or mas o menos (more or less/alright). Your individual response is based on how you feel.
¿Como estas tu? - How are you? (Como - How) (estas - are) (tu - you (informal))
Response: Basic responses to this question are bien (good), mal (bad), asi asi (so so), or mas o menos (more or less/alright). Your individual response is based on how you feel.
Por ejemplo (for example):
Juan - Oye Pablo. ¿Que pasa?
Pablo - Nada, ¿y tu?
Translation
Juan (John) - Hey Pablo (Paul). What’s up?
Pablo (Paul) - Nothing, and you?
Otro ejemplo (another example):
Juan - Hola. ¿Que tal?
Pablo - Bien, ¿y tu?
Translation
Juan (John) - Hello. How are you?
Pablo (Paul) - Good, and you?
I hope that this free Spanish lesson has helped you learn some basic Spanish phrases. The links to the left of this post contain more information about Spanish introductions and phrases and help with pronunciation. I will continue to update this post with more information. Until later, Adios.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Learn Basic Spanish Phrases and Introductions for Free
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Formal Spanish Conversation (Introductions)
Now that you have learned some of the ways to say "Hello", "How are you", and how to respond, let's put it all together to form a basic conversation in Spanish. This is a formal conversation (for information on formal vs. informal review the information above).
Juan - Hola Pablo. Buenos dias. ¿Como esta usted?
Pablo - Buenos dias Juan. Estoy bien, ¿y usted?
Juan - Estoy bien, gracias.
Here you can see that I have added the word estoy. Estoy is the I form of "to be."
As you learned earlier, "estas" means "are." ¿Como estas tu? - How are you?
"Esta" can also mean are, as in ¿Como esta usted? - How are you? (formal)
Now that you have seen several ways to use estar, you should probably know how to conjugate the verb but first we have to go over pronouns.
"Yo" means "I"
"Tu" means "you" (informal)
"El" means "he"/"ella" means "she" /"usted" means "you"(formal)
"Nosotros" means "we"
"Vosotros" means "you all" informal (this form is rarely used by most Spanish speakers)
"Ellos" means "they"(masculine form)/"ellas" - "they"(feminine)/"Ustedes" - You all (formal)
So to conjugate Estar:
Estar - To be
Yo Estoy - I Am
Tu Estas - you are (familiar)
El/ella/usted Esta - He/she/you (formal) Is/Are (same conjugation for all three pronouns)
Nosotros Estamos - We Are
Vosotros Estais - You all are (familiar plural)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes Estan - He/She/You all(formal) Are(same conjugation for all three pronouns)
Formal Spanish Conversation Quiz
Now that you know how to conjugate Estar and have seen a few examples of a basic conversation, let's put your knowledge to the test. You may not have memorized how to conjugate Estar yet, but that is fine. The only way you are really going to learn how to conjugate Estar and Spanish in general is by using it. Expect <span class="fullpost">to make mistakes but that is part of learning. Since I have been using Juan and Pablo as conversation partners in this blog (and since I do not know your name), we will continue using them in this quiz. Let us use the formal form; I will be Juan in this example and you play the roll of Pablo. Respond to my statement in the most appropriate way:
Juan - Hola Pablo, ¿Como esta usted?
Pablo - ______________________.
Juan - Bien, gracias.
Answer - You should have answered by indicating how you are and returned the question.
If you used your knowledge of estar, you would have said:
(Yo) estoy bien/mal. ¿y usted?
You could have also said: Bien/mal. ¿y usted? (The "Estoy" is not necessarily required, but it is good practice).
Now let use reverse the rolls in the conversation. I will be Pablo, and you will be Juan. How would you greet me?
Juan - _____________________
Pablo - Estoy bien Juan, ¿y usted?
Juan - _____________________
Your first line should have been:
Juan - Hola (Pablo), ¿Como esta usted?
Pablo - Estoy bien Juan, ¿y usted?
Your second line would have been: Bien/mal, gracias.
I know this may have been easy for you, but practice it a couple times to internalize it. It will also help you to remember some of the conjugations for Estar.
This is how we will practice Spanish and test you knowledge for the next several lessons (therefore I will not have to explain the directions as thoroughly and we can concentrate on Spanish).
