Hello and who you are
🎯 Greet, name yourself, ask a name back, and leave warmly.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- Hola, buenos días. 🔊 OH-la, BWEH-nos DEE-as Hello, good morning. Buenas tardes after lunch, buenas noches after dark. Notice días is masculine but tardes and noches are feminine — so bueno changes to buenas.
- ¿Cómo te llamas? 🔊 KO-mo teh YA-mas What is your name? Literally 'how do you call yourself'. The upside-down ¿ warns you a question is coming — Spanish tells you before, not after.
- Me llamo Priya. 🔊 meh YA-mo PREE-ya My name is Priya. 'I call myself Priya'.
- Mucho gusto. 🔊 MOO-cho GOOS-to A pleasure to meet you. The standard reply is igualmente (ee-gwal-MEN-teh) — likewise.
- ¿Cómo estás? 🔊 KO-mo es-TAS How are you? To an elder or a stranger: ¿Cómo está usted? Answer: muy bien, gracias.
- Hasta luego. 🔊 AS-ta LWEH-go See you later. Adiós is more final. Hasta mañana is 'until tomorrow'.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 Spanish already told you who is speaking
Llamo, llamas, llama — the ending of the verb changes, and that ending already says who did it. So the word for 'I' is usually left out altogether.
- (yo) hablo = I speak
- (tú) hablas = you speak
- (él/ella) habla = he/she speaks
- Say yo hablo only when you want to stress it: 'I speak, whatever the others do.'
🌍 Among the people
In Spain a greeting between friends comes with two kisses on the cheek; in Mexico, one. In both, a handshake with no greeting at all feels cold.
🔁 Practise today
- Say all five vowels ten times: a-e-i-o-u. This is the foundation of a good accent.
- Introduce yourself aloud five times without reading.
- Greet your family in Spanish tomorrow morning and see who answers.
