Part I: Hi.
After you've practiced the wonderful alphabet (el alfabeto), we must move on. We must learn words. Yes, yes, this is the hard part. Memorization. Now, if you have a fairly large English vocabulary, you might notice a correlation with Spanish words. This is because of the common Latin root. English has tons of Latin (stemming from the days the French Normans took over England), and Spanish is a Romance language. Hence the common words (Also good to note that this is the last lesson for which I'll provide pronunciations).
The greetings, however, are rather different.
Buena mana�a. (bway-nah mahn-nyah-nah)
Good morning.
Buenos di�s. (bway-nohs dee-ahs)
Good day.
Buenas tardes. (bway-nahs tahr-days)
Good evening.
Buenas noches. (bway-nahs nohch-ays)
Good night.
?C�mo est�s? (coh-moh ay-stahs)
How are you?
Muy bien. (moo-ee bee-ayn)
Very good.
Gracias. (grah-cee-ahs)
Thank you.
?Y tu? (ee to)
And you?
Mas o menos. (mahs oh may-nohs)
So-so (literally more or less.
Bien. (bee-ayn)
Well.
Te presento a... (tay pray-sayn-toh ah)
Let me introduce you to...
Mucho gusto. (moo-choh goos-toh)
Nice to meet you.
?Como te va? (coh-moh tay bah)
How's it going? (literally How does it go for you?)
Adios. (ah-dee-ohs)
Bye. (literally to God)
Hasta luego. (ah-stah loo-ay-goh)
See you later. (literally until then).
Chao. (cha-oh)
Later.
Part II: Practice.
Answer these greeting appropriately.
- Hola.
- Buenos dias.
- Buenas tardes.
- ?Como te va?
- ?Que tal?
- Hasta luego.
- Buenas noches.
- ?Como estas?
Act out the situation.
Tu: Hola. ?Que tal?
Amigo(a): Bien, gracias. ?Y tu?
Tu: Bien, gracias. Te presento a Maria.
Amigo(a): Hola.
Maria: Mucho gusto.
Part III: Customs.
When greeting people and making introductions there are expressions that denote different degrees of formality or informality. Hola, ?Que tal?, ?Como estas?, ?Como te va?, Te presento a... are used informally with people you know well and with peers. ?Como esta udsted?, ?Como estan udstedes?, Quisiera presentarles a... are more fomal and are used with older people or people you do not know very well. It is not uncommon for elder people or superiors to speak informally to a younger person who addressses them as udsted.
