The Most Useful Spanish Greetings and Goodbyes

Knowing how to greet when we arrive in a place and how to say goodbye when we leave is the most basic part of the manners that our parents and our school teachers have shown us from our very sweet childhood. This is the reason why you will cause a good first impression wherever you go if you learn the Spanish greetings and goodbyes so you can use them whenever you need them.

Moreover, learning how to say nice to meet you in Spanish can open thousands of different doors for you, from making friends all around the world to achieving a great business deal with a big transnational corporation, for example.

Spanish greetings and goodbyes

There are two ways of talking when you are giving greetings and goodbyes in Spanish, there is the “formal” way (which is used to talk with more respect like to a senior person or your boss) and the “informal” way (it’s employed to talk to people you have more confidence with like your family or friends) and they can be identified as follows:

• Buenos días – Good morning (Formal)
• Buenas tardes – Good afternoon(Formal)
• Buenas noches – Good evening (Formal)
• ¿Cómo está usted? – How are you? (Formal)
• ¡Que tenga usted un bonito día! – Have a nice day! (Formal)
• Encantado de conocerlo(a) – Nice to meet you (Formal)
• Hola – Hello/Hi (Informal)
• ¿Cómo estás? – How are you? (Informal)
• Encantado de conocerte – Nice to meet you (Informal)
• ¿Cómo has estado? – How have you been? (Informal)
• ¿Qué tal?/¿Cómo te va? – How is it going? (Informal)
• ¡Que tengas un bonito día! – Have a nice day! (Informal)
• Bienvenido – Welcome
• Hasta pronto – See you soon
• Hasta luego – See you later
• Hasta mañana – See you tomorrow/Until tomorrow
• Nos vemos – We will see each other
• Cuídate – Take care
• Adiós – Goodbye

In addition, it is very relevant to learn the Spanish greetings and goodbyes so you can use them in your favor. You will then be capable of meeting new people, starting a conversation with a stranger and being polite in another language; as well as being capable of handling a conversation like in the following section.

Bonus section – Introduction conversation in Spanish

Now we present an introduction conversation model in Spanish about two people who have just met by a friend they have in common:

Paul: – Hola Anna, soy Paul. Encantado de conocerte. (Hello Anna, I’m Paul. Nice to meet you.)

Anna: – Hola Paul, estoy encantada de conocerte también. ¿Cómo estás? (Hi Paul, nice to meet you too. How are you?)

Paul: – Muy bien, gracias por preguntar. ¿Cómo te va? (Very well, thank you for asking. How is it going?)

Anna: – No tan bien, lamentablemente mi madre ha estado un poco enferma… (Not so good, unfortunately my mother has been a little sick…)

Then she receives an unexpected call and has to say goodbye.

Anna: – Lamento mucho esa interrupción, pero tengo que irme. De verdad espero verte pronto nuevamente. (I’m really sorry about that interruption, but I have to go. I truly want to see you again soon.)

Paul: – No te preocupes, realmente lamento lo de la enfermedad de tu madre. De verdad espero que se mejore pronto. (Don’t worry, I’m sorry about your mother’s illness. I really hope she gets better soon.)

Anna: – Te lo agradezco mucho. ¿Qué tal si nos tomamos un café la próxima vez? (I appreciate it very much. What if we have a coffee next time?)

Paul: – Eso suena genial, pero será a mi cuenta. Hasta la próxima, Anna. Toma mi número telefónico, para que podamos hablar. ¡Que tengas un bonito día! (It sounds great, but it will be on me. Until next time, Anna. Take my phone number, so we can talk. Have a nice day!)

Anna: – Está bien, ten el mío también. Cuídate, Paul. Hasta pronto. (All right, have mine too. Take care, Paul. See you soon.)

Don’t stop here! Check out our other articles like this full list of colors in Spanish or our list of fruits in Spanish to skyrocket your brain into fluency!