How to Learn Spanish: the Greetings

By: Li Ming Wong

In your first attempt to learn Spanish, the first thing you will be taught about is greetings. What do you know if you don't know how to say "hello?" Learning the greetings will help you to learn Spanish in its simplest form because you don't have to worry about too many verb agreements or word orders. The greetings are taught in simple phrases. No extra words need to be looked up or added. As I said before, as you learn Spanish the first phrase you need to know is "hello." In order to say that in Spanish, you would say, "Hola."

"Hola" can be used formally or casually to say hello to anyone you might run into. If you are trying to say hello on the phone, you might use "bueno" or "diga. "

If you would like to say "goodbye" in Spanish, you would say, "Adios."

If you would like to say, "How are you?" you would say, " ?Como estÃ?s?" To say, "Good afternoon." you would say, " Buenas tardes." To say, "Good morning" or "Good day," you would say, "Buenos dÃ?as." "Good night" in Spanish is buenos noches, and to ask what someone's name is, you would say, "?Como te llamas?"

Once you get these down, you will think it's a breeze to learn Spanish, but you are in for some more complex terms a bit later on down the road. Other basics that you can start mastering are numbers, the alphabet, telling time, asking directions, gender, color, body parts, and family.

Learning these types of everyday terms will help you learn Spanish faster because you will able to practice these words everyday. People say hello and good night all of the time so you will feel comfortable practicing your Spanish often.

Later on, you will be able to form more complex greetings such as, "Hello, how are you are you doing?" or "Hi, the weather is pleasant today, isn't it?"

You can begin to get a little more advanced by asking "What's up?" or "What's new?" To say that in Spanish, you would say "?Que hay?" If you want to say, "How's it going?" you would say, "?Que pasa?" If you would like to say "nice to meet you" you would say "Mucho gusto."

Those are just a few of the more intermediate level greetings that you will help you to learn Spanish while getting to know many different people.

In Spain, it's often a common thing for people to kiss each other on both cheeks when they meet. However, men will usually shake hands. Even though people kiss each other often when they meet, they don't do it all of the time. For instance in the context of a business meeting, you would not catch people kissing each other on the cheeks.

If you are in America, you may not want to try kissing anyone as you learn Spanish, even if it's another Spanish person. Most people of different cultures have gotten used to the American culture, and American's usually don't kiss when they first meet. However, should you visit Spain, you may want to try this. It will add to the fun as you learn Spanish.

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