Reference · module 1
Hello and goodbye
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Hola
Greet anybody, at any hour.
- Hola works everywhere and at every hour, with a stranger or a friend. The h is silent, so it is said ola.
- Buenos días until about two, buenas tardes until dark, buenas noches after that. Note that días is masculine and takes buenos.
- Adiós is goodbye, and hasta luego is see you later — which Spaniards say far more often, even to people they will never see again.
The mistake you are about to make
Buenas días
Buenos días
Días sits next to buenas tardes and ends in -as, so buenas comes out. Día is masculine despite the -a: buenos días.
Soy, eres, es
Say who you are and ask who somebody else is.
- soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son. That is the verb ser, to be, and it is the most irregular verb in the language.
- The pronoun is usually left out: Soy Ana, not Yo soy Ana. The ending already says who, so the pronoun is only for emphasis.
- A question is the same words with a rising tone, and in writing an upside-down mark opens it: ¿Eres Ana? Nothing else moves.
The mistake you are about to make
Yo soy Ana.
Soy Ana.
English cannot drop "I", so yo comes out every time. The ending of soy already says who; yo is only for emphasis.
¿Cómo estás?
Ask how somebody is and answer.
- Spanish has a second verb for to be: estar. It covers how you feel and where you are. ¿Cómo estás? asks how you are right now.
- estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están. Note the accent on estás and está: it marks which syllable is stressed.
- The answer is short: Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú? Three words and the question comes back, which is the whole exchange.
The mistake you are about to make
¿Cómo eres?
¿Cómo estás?
"How are you" has one verb in English, so ser gets picked. ¿Cómo eres? asks what kind of person you are. How you are right now is estar.
Me llamo
Introduce yourself and somebody else.
- Me llamo Ana is literally I call myself Ana, and it is the ordinary way to give your name. Soy Ana also works and is shorter.
- To introduce somebody: Este es Pedro for a man, Esta es Ana for a woman. The word changes with the person, as everything does in Spanish.
- The reply is Mucho gusto or Encantado. A man says encantado and a woman says encantada, because it describes the speaker.
The mistake you are about to make
Yo llamo Ana.
Me llamo Ana.
"I call" without the me means you are phoning Ana. The name is what you call yourself: me llamo.
¿De dónde eres?
Say where you are from and where you live.
- Soy de Rusia. Vivo en Madrid. ser de for where you started, vivir en for where you are now.
- Nationalities agree and are written with a small letter, unlike in English: español and española, ruso and rusa, francés and francesa.
- Countries keep their capital letter: España, Rusia, Francia, México. Only the nationality drops it.
The mistake you are about to make
Soy Ruso.
Soy ruso.
English capitalises nationalities, so the capital comes along. Spanish writes them lowercase; only the country keeps its capital: Rusia.