“Hello” and “Goodbye” in Spanish

“Hello” and “Goodbye” in Spanish

Updated March 20, 2023

Nowadays, it is well known that “Hello!” is “¡Hola!” in Spanish. However, there are other ways  to greet people which sound colloquial. Let us share more alternatives to say “Hi”, “How are you?” and “Goodbye”.

How to say “Hello”

If it is the first time you meet someone, you can say “¡Hola!” or else “¡Buenos días!”, “¡Buenas tardes!” and “¡Buenas noches!” depending on the time. You should note that Spanish greetings are always in plural form (“Good days”). In addition, when you greet someone who you have  already met, it would be kind to say “¡Qué bueno verte otra vez!”< “It’s nice to see you again.”, “Encantada(o) de verte nuevamente”, similar to “I’m glad to see you again”.

How to say “How are you?”

Generally, people would say “¿Cómo estás’” (“How are you?”). For casual general conversations you can pick one of the following: ¿Qué tal? ¿Cómo te va? ¿Qué tal todo? or ¿Qué haces? to mean “How are you doing?’”, “How is it going?” and “How do you do?”. Obviously greetings could change depending on the country you are.

How to say “Goodbye”

The most standard way of saying goodbye in Spanish, “Adiós”, is your first choice. However, there are other alternatives like “¡Hasta luego!< “See you then”, “¡Nos vemos pronto!” > “See you soon”, “¡Hasta mañana!”> “See you tomorrow”  or just say “Chau”> “Bye”, which is the most informal.

Now that you can greet in Spanish, at Bright Lingua, you will be able to contextualize these greetings in communicative situations. Therefore, you will be able to open up your horizons in relation to this Spanish language which is full of cultural diversity.    

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