Learning Basic Greetings in Spanish

The first step to learning a new language is being familiar with its greetings and
most basic phrases. In this article, you'll find some everyday expressions in Spanish words, with
pronunciation guides, to help you enunciate them properly. You'll notice that written, the Spanish language uses both the inverted question mark (¿) and inverted exclamation mark (¡) at the beginning of every interrogative and exclamatory sentence, respectively.

¡Hola!
[oh-lah]
‘Hi, Hello’

¡Hola! is the most basic Spanish expression in greeting other people. It means ‘hi’
or ‘hello’. It can be used both for people you know, and for those you don’t know to get
them to notice you.

Note: Spanish people do not pronounce the letter /h/, making it a silent letter,
except when used in the /ch/ sound. Thus, the above expression should not be read [hohlah]
but [oh-lah].

¡Buenos dias!
[bwe-nos di-yahs]
‘Good morning/day’

¡Buenas tardes!
[bwe-nas tar-des]
‘Good afternoon’

¡Buenas noches!
[bwe-nas noh-ches]
‘Good evening/night’

These are the daily or timely greetings in Spanish. Similar to English, they are
composed of two words, namely bueno which means ‘good’ and the Spanish words for
morning, afternoon, and night.

¿Cómo te llamas?
[ko-mo te ya-mas]
‘What is your name?’

¿Cómo se llama usted?
[ko-mo se ya-ma oo-sted]
"What is your name?' (Formal)

Literally, these translate to ‘How do you call yourself?" or "How are you called" and both are correct for asking someone their name. The first one would be appropriate to use with a child or among peers in an informal setting, and the 2nd should always be used in business or when dealing with people older than you.

The literal translation of “What is your name?" would be

¿Cual es tú nombre?
[qual es tu nom-bre]
‘What is your name?’

If someone asks for your name using any of the above questions, you may also
respond with various answers:

Yo soy [name].
[yo soy … ]
‘I am …’

Me llamo [name].
[me yah-mo … ]
‘I am called …’

Mi nombre es [name].
[mi nom-bre es … ]
‘My name is …’

Though there are variations when telling your name in Spanish, all are accepted and are used to introduce yourself to other people.