Say Hello in Spanish
How do you say Hello in Spanish?
Well, there are a number of ways, and you can vary the greeting depending on the time of day... so...
... in the morning you say...
Hello! ... Good Day! ... Good Morning!
Literally it means: good days.
Bueno means good, while buenos is the plural for good.
Día means day, and días is days (plural).
Note: the Spanish use of the upside down exclamation mark at the beginning of an exclamation, "¡", as well as the normal exclamation mark to show the end.
...but when is it morning and when is it afternoon...
But be careful, the 'morning' as Anglophones know it, stops on the dot of 12 noon. A second later an Anglophone would say 'Good Afternoon'.
Not so in Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries....
The transition from 'Good morning' to 'Good afternoon in spanish is a little less clear cut, and is not as "pin-point accurate" as in the English-speaking world.
The time to say Hello in Spanish by saying 'Good morning' eases to an end sometime in the early to mid-afternoon, and then transitions to:
which means Good afternoon in Spanish.
...the transition time from morning to afternoon confuses English speakers a bit as it is a little bit of a grey area, in that it is early afternoon....
...but the good bit is that buenas tardes is also:
good evening in Spanish!
But to add further mild confusion to the matter there is a similar easing transition from evening time to the time at which point you say 'Good night'...., which is:
Good night in Spanish!
You start saying 'Good night' as way to say hello in Spanish around about 8 p.m.-ish... but again there is no specific cut-off point.
...and this one can be used not only as a way to say Hello in Spanish, i.e. as a greeting, but it can also be used as a farewell.
Or you can just say....
....both of which can be used at any time of day to say hello in Spanish and it covers all three buenos/buenas situations.
Also used is ...
It sounds a bit like OLA, as the 'h' is silent.
It is also more informal, and it can be used at any time of day, which makes it safe to use, but it is a casual greeting.
How to say Hello in Spanish on the telephone
Saying 'Hello' on the telephone is slightly different in Spanish in Spain in that they say:
"Speak to me!"
but in Latin America...
is common which is just like an English 'hello' (without the 'h') but said with a Spanish accent.
Note the genders in the greetings...
Did you notice a slight difference between good day and the other greetings with the word 'good' in them?
A more advanced student will of course know this, but you may have noticed that it is
... and ...
Of course - gender.
el día is masculine and
la tarde and la noche are feminine .
The endings of Spanish genders must agree with the ending of the noun.
Note also that all of these ways to say Hello in Spanish use the plural form.
Good days - - buenos días
Good afternoons - - buenas tardes
Good evenings - - buenas tardes
Good nights - - buenas noches
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So there it is....
You now know how to say hello in Spanish in several different ways....
...so before you go test yourself...
What is good morning in Spanish?
What is the word for good day in Spanish?
What is good afternoon in Spanish?
What is good evening in Spanish?
What is good night in Spanish?
How do you say hello in Spanish?
How do you say hi in Spanish?
How did you get on?
To learn and remember more effectively click here.
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Say Hello in Spanish
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