Hello in Spanish: ¡Hola! and 70+ Greetings and Replies

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¡Hola! is the safest way to say “hello” in Spanish, but it is only the start. The greeting that sounds natural also depends on the time of day, how well you know the other person, the region you are in, and whether you are speaking, texting or writing an email.

You do not need to memorise every phrase here before your next conversation. Start with one neutral greeting, one way to ask how someone is, and one reply. Add the regional and formal options when you know where and with whom you will use them.

A useful first set is ¡Hola!, ¿Cómo estás?, Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?, Buenos días and Buenas noches. Those five phrases will carry you through plenty of everyday situations.

As you work through the longer list, notice the context beside each phrase. Spanish varies across more than 20 countries, so a form can be perfectly natural in one place and unusual in another.

If you want a clear structure for putting your Spanish into practice, take a look at the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp. It’s a 90-day programme with weekly coaching calls, a private community and a focus on speaking from day one.

“Hello” in Spanish: ¡Hola!

Hola is the standard, widely understood greeting. It works with friends, strangers, colleagues and shop staff, and you can make it warmer by adding a name or another greeting.

• ¡Hola! (“Hello!”)
• Hola, Ana. (“Hello, Ana.”)
• Hola a todos. (“Hello, everyone.”)
• Hola, ¿cómo estás? (“Hello, how are you?”)
• Hola, mucho gusto. (“Hello, nice to meet you.”)

The h in hola is silent, so the word sounds like ola. Keep the spelling straight, though, because ola means “wave”.

“Hi” in Spanish: ¡Hola!

Spanish does not need a separate everyday word for English “hi”. Hola covers both “hello” and “hi”, while these alternatives change the tone rather than translating “hi” word for word.

• ¡Hola! (“Hi!”)
• ¡Buenas! (an informal “Hi!”)
• ¡Hola, hola! (a cheerful repeated greeting)
• ¡Holi! (playful and very informal)
• ¡Holis! (playful and very informal)
• ¡Hola de nuevo! (“Hello again!”)

Holi and holis are deliberately cute forms that you may hear among friends or see online. They are not limited to one gender, but they are too playful for a formal setting.

“Hey” in Spanish: ¡Ey!

Ey is the established Spanish spelling of the borrowed interjection “hey”. You can also use oye or mira to get someone's attention, but those two mean “listen” and “look”, so tone matters.

• ¡Ey! ¿Cómo estás? (“Hey! How are you?”)
• Oye, una pregunta. (“Hey, one question.”)
• Mira, necesito tu ayuda. (“Look, I need your help.”)

With a stranger, begin with hola, perdona or disculpe instead of calling out oye. That small change makes the approach much softer.

“How Are You?” in Spanish: ¿Cómo estás?

The form of estar changes with the person you are addressing. Spanish often leaves out the pronoun because the verb form already carries that information, although a speaker may include it for clarity, contrast or emphasis.

• ¿Cómo estás? for one person addressed as tú
• ¿Cómo estás? for one person addressed as vos
• ¿Cómo está? for one person addressed as usted
• ¿Cómo estáis? for a group addressed as vosotros/vosotras, mainly in Spain
• ¿Cómo están? for a group addressed as ustedes

Vos is an everyday informal singular form in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and parts of Central and South America. Vosotros is used mainly in Spain, while ustedes serves as the normal plural “you” throughout Latin America and also as the formal plural in Spain. Our Spanish pronouns guide explains the regional pattern in more detail.

An Alternative Way to Say “How Are You?” in Spanish: ¿Cómo andas?

¿Cómo andas? is a casual “How are you doing?” in regions where this use is common. The literal verb is andar, but the phrase asks how life is going rather than how someone is walking.

• ¿Cómo andas? with tú
• ¿Cómo andás? with vos
• ¿Cómo anda? with usted
• ¿Cómo andáis? with vosotros/vosotras
• ¿Cómo andan? with ustedes

Because the social meaning of tú, vos and usted changes by country and relationship, listen to the forms people around you use instead of treating one pronoun as universally polite or casual.

“How Are You Today?” in Spanish

Add hoy when today itself matters. It can go after the verb or at the start for emphasis.

• ¿Cómo estás hoy? (“How are you today?”)
• ¿Cómo está hoy? (“How are you today?” with usted)
• ¿Cómo se encuentra hoy? (“How are you feeling today?” in a more formal or caring register)
• Hoy, ¿cómo te sientes? (“How do you feel today?”)
• ¿Qué tal estás hoy? (“How are you today?”)

Use qué tal in a Greeting

¿Qué tal? is a complete, flexible greeting. It can also introduce a more specific question, but it is best learned as a formula rather than as a word-for-word substitute for cómo.

• ¿Qué tal? (“How's it going?”)
• ¿Qué tal estás? (“How are you?”)
• ¿Qué tal está? (“How are you?” with usted)
• ¿Qué tal todo? (“How is everything?”)
• ¿Qué tal el viaje? (“How was the trip?”)

“How Are You Doing?” in Spanish: ¿Cómo te va?

¿Cómo te va? asks roughly “How is it going for you?” The verb stays in the third-person singular, while the pronoun changes with the person or group.

• ¿Cómo te va? with tú or vos
• ¿Cómo le va? with usted
• ¿Cómo os va? with vosotros/vosotras
• ¿Cómo les va? with ustedes

You can also ask about one part of life: ¿Cómo te va en el trabajo? (“How is work going?”) or ¿Cómo te va con el español? (“How is your Spanish going?”).

Spanish Responses to “How Are You Doing?”

A greeting is easier to retrieve when you learn it with a reply. Practise each pair as one short exchange, then swap in a different answer once the first one feels automatic.

How to Say “Good, and You?” in Spanish

• Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú? (“Good, thanks. And you?”)
• Bien, gracias. ¿Y vos? (“Good, thanks. And you?” with vos)
• Bien, gracias. ¿Y usted? (“Good, thanks. And you?” formally)
• Todo bien, ¿y tú? (“Everything's good. And you?”)
• Bien, ¿y ustedes? (“Good. And you all?”)
• Bien, ¿y vosotros? (“Good. And you all?” mainly in Spain)

How to Say “Very Well, Thanks” in Spanish

• Muy bien, gracias. (“Very well, thank you.”)
• Excelente, gracias. (“Excellent, thank you.”)
• Genial, gracias. (“Brilliant, thanks.”)
• Estupendamente. (“Wonderfully.”)
• Todo va muy bien. (“Everything is going very well.”)
• Muy bien, por suerte. (“Very well, luckily.”)

How to Say “So-So” in Spanish

• Más o menos. (“More or less.”)
• Así así. (“So-so.”)
• Regular. (“So-so.”)
• Ahí vamos. (“Getting by.”)
• Ni bien ni mal. (“Neither good nor bad.”)
• Podría estar mejor. (“I could be better.”)

How to Say “Not So Good” in Spanish

• No muy bien. (“Not very well.”)
• No tan bien. (“Not so well.”)
• Mal. (“Bad.”)
• Fatal. (“Awful.”)
• He tenido un día difícil. (“I've had a difficult day.”)
• Estoy un poco cansado/cansada. (“I'm a little tired.”)

These answers differ in strength. Regular is mild, while fatal sounds much stronger. Use the one that matches what you actually want to share.

“What's Up?” in Spanish: ¿Qué tal?

There is no single regional phrase that covers the whole Spanish-speaking world. These are all real conversation openers, but the labels matter.

• ¿Qué tal? is a widely understood “How's it going?”
• ¿Qué pasa? can mean “What's happening?” or work as an informal greeting.
• ¿Qué hay? means “What's up?” or “What's going on?”
• ¿Qué hay de nuevo? means “What's new?”
• ¿Qué cuentas? asks what news the other person has.
• ¿Qué me cuentas? means “What have you got to tell me?”
• ¿Cómo va todo? means “How is everything going?”
• ¿Todo bien? means “Everything good?”
• ¿Qué onda? is a popular greeting in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Bolivia, with youth use in some other countries.
• ¿Qué hubo? is a colloquial greeting in parts of Mexico, Central America and South America.
• ¿Quiubo?, from ¿Qué hubo?, is recorded as a greeting in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.
• ¿Qué más? is a friendly regional “What else is new?”
• ¿Qué lo que? is strongly associated with the Dominican Republic and is very informal.
• ¿Qué haces? literally asks “What are you doing?” and works as a conversation opener, not as a direct equivalent of every English “What's up?”

Do not force a regional greeting just because it appears in a list. Listen first, note who uses it and in what setting, then try it with the same kind of person. That is much more reliable than assuming that “Latin American Spanish” has one slang vocabulary.

“Good Morning” in Spanish: ¡Buenos días!

Buenos días is the standard morning greeting. The change to buenas tardes follows local meal times and habits rather than one exact time on the clock.

• ¡Buenos días! (“Good morning!”)
• Buenos días, ¿cómo está? (“Good morning, how are you?”)
• Muy buenos días. (a warmer or more emphatic “Good morning.”)
• Buen día. (“Good day”, common as a greeting in some regions)
• Que tengas un buen día. (“Have a good day.”)

Buen día can also be a farewell. Treat it as a useful regional alternative, not as the singular form that simply replaces buenos días everywhere.

“Good Afternoon” in Spanish: ¡Buenas tardes!

• ¡Buenas tardes! (“Good afternoon!”)
• Buenas tardes, señor García. (“Good afternoon, Mr García.”)
• Muy buenas tardes. (a warmer or more emphatic greeting)
• ¡Buenas! (an informal shortened greeting)

The full greeting is plural: buenas tardes. A learner should not invent buena tarde as a general substitute, although que tengas una buena tarde (“have a good afternoon”) is a normal farewell sentence.

“Good Evening” in Spanish: ¡Buenas noches!

English “evening” and Spanish time-of-day greetings do not divide the day in exactly the same way. Once people locally have moved from tarde to noche, use buenas noches. The boundary shifts with daylight, meal times and local custom.

• ¡Buenas noches! (“Good evening!” or “Good night!”)
• Buenas noches, ¿cómo están? (“Good evening, how are you all?”)
• Muy buenas noches. (a warmer or more formal greeting)
• Que tengas una buena noche. (“Have a good night.”)
• Que descanses. (“Rest well.”)

How to Greet Someone You've Just Met in Spanish

For a first meeting, combine a neutral greeting with your name and one short courtesy formula. That gives you a complete exchange without making the formality decision carry the whole conversation.

Hola, me llamo Sara. Mucho gusto. is enough. If the other person uses usted, follow their lead; if they invite you to use tú or vos, switch then.

“Nice to Meet You” in Spanish

• Mucho gusto. (“Nice to meet you.”)
• Encantado. (“Delighted”, said by a male speaker)
• Encantada. (“Delighted”, said by a female speaker)
• Un placer. (“A pleasure.”)
• Encantado de conocerte. (“Delighted to meet you.”)
• Encantada de conocerte. (“Delighted to meet you.”)
• Ha sido un placer conocerlo/conocerla. (“It has been a pleasure to meet you.”)
• Igualmente. (“Likewise.”)

In encantado and encantada, the ending agrees with the speaker, not with the person being greeted. If you want to avoid marking the speaker's gender, mucho gusto and un placer work for everyone.

“What's Your Name?” in Spanish: ¿Cómo te llamas?

• ¿Cómo te llamas? with tú
• ¿Cómo te llamás? with vos
• ¿Cómo se llama? with usted
• ¿Cómo os llamáis? with vosotros/vosotras
• ¿Cómo se llaman? with ustedes
• ¿Cuál es tu nombre? (“What is your name?”)
• ¿Me recuerda su nombre? (“Could you remind me of your name?”)
• Perdona, ¿cómo te llamabas? (“Sorry, what was your name again?”)

Tu and su in tu nombre and su nombre are possessive determiners because they accompany the noun. In ordinary conversation, ¿Cómo te llamas? usually sounds more natural than the form-like ¿Cuál es tu nombre?.

“My Name Is…” in Spanish: Mi nombre es…

• Me llamo Daniel. (“My name is Daniel.”)
• Soy Daniel. (“I'm Daniel.”)
• Mi nombre es Daniel. (“My name is Daniel.”)
• Hola, soy Daniel. (“Hello, I'm Daniel.”)
• Permítame presentarme: soy Daniel. (“Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Daniel.”)
• Creo que no nos conocemos. Soy Daniel. (“I don't think we've met. I'm Daniel.”)

How to Say “Welcome!” in Spanish

Bienvenido behaves like an adjective, so its ending normally changes with the person or group being welcomed. Dar la bienvenida gives you a useful alternative that does not require that agreement.

• ¡Bienvenido! to one man
• ¡Bienvenida! to one woman
• ¡Bienvenidos! to a group of men or a mixed group in traditional agreement
• ¡Bienvenidas! to a group of women
• Te doy la bienvenida. (“I welcome you.”)
• Le damos la bienvenida. (“We welcome you.”)
• Les damos la bienvenida. (“We welcome you all.”)

Spanish Greetings for Letters, Emails, Texts, and Phone Calls

A spoken hola transfers easily to a message between friends, but a formal email and a phone call have their own conventions. Match the channel before you worry about sounding elaborate.

Spanish Greetings for Letters and Emails

In a Spanish letter or email, the greeting is followed by a colon, and the message begins on a new line. When a name follows hola, it is set off as a vocative: Hola, Ana:

• Hola, Ana: is friendly and direct.
• Buenos días: is neutral when the recipients are clear from the message.
• Estimado señor García: is formal.
• Estimada señora Pérez: is formal.
• Estimado equipo: addresses a team.
• A quien corresponda: means “To whom it may concern”.
• Querido Juan: is personal and informal.
• Querida Marta: is personal and informal.

Choose a title and name you know are correct rather than guessing someone's gender, marital status or preferred form of address. If you have no name, Buenos días:, Estimado equipo: or a role such as Estimada responsable de admisiones: is often clearer.

Texts and Phone Calls

Text abbreviations change quickly and are easy to misread across countries. You may see forms such as hla, q tal, salu2 and Dominican klk, but writing the full greeting is the safer learner choice.

• Hola, ¿qué tal? is clear in any message.
• Hola, ¿cómo estás? is warm and neutral.
• Buenos días, ¿tienes un minuto? means “Good morning, do you have a minute?”
• Hola de nuevo. means “Hello again.”
• ¡Cuánto tiempo! means “Long time no see!”

Phone-answering formulas vary by country. Listen for the local convention, and give your name or organisation quickly when you are the caller.

• ¿Hola? is widely understood.
• ¿Sí? means “Yes?”
• ¿Diga? is common in Spain.
• ¿Dígame? is common in Spain.
• ¿Bueno? is strongly associated with answering the phone in Mexico.
• ¿Aló? is used in several Latin American countries.
• Buenos días, habla Laura. means “Good morning, Laura speaking.”
• Gracias por llamar a la Clínica Central. means “Thank you for calling Central Clinic.”
• ¿En qué puedo ayudarle? means “How may I help you?”

Spanish Greetings for Specific Occasions

Spanish often uses feliz, felicidades or enhorabuena for celebrations. Some holiday wording varies by country and community, so follow the form used by the people celebrating it.

• ¡Feliz cumpleaños! (“Happy birthday!”)
• ¡Felicidades! (“Congratulations!” or “Best wishes!”)
• ¡Feliz aniversario! (“Happy anniversary!”)
• ¡Feliz Navidad! (“Merry Christmas!”)
• ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! (“Happy New Year!”)
• ¡Próspero Año Nuevo! (“Prosperous New Year!”)
• ¡Felices fiestas! (“Happy holidays!”)
• ¡Feliz día de San Valentín! (“Happy Valentine's Day!”)
• ¡Feliz Día de la Madre! (“Happy Mother's Day!”)
• ¡Feliz Día del Padre! (“Happy Father's Day!”)
• ¡Feliz Pascua! (“Happy Easter!” in communities that use this form)
• ¡Feliz Janucá! (“Happy Hanukkah!”)
• ¡Enhorabuena por tu graduación! (“Congratulations on your graduation!”)
• ¡Que lo pases muy bien! (“Have a brilliant time!”)
• Mis mejores deseos. (“My best wishes.”)

For more birthday language, including the song and regional traditions, see our guide to saying happy birthday in Spanish.

The Noun “Greetings” in Spanish

The noun saludo can refer to a greeting, the act of greeting someone or a message of regards. Its plural, saludos, is common in email closings and when passing greetings to another person.

• un saludo (“a greeting” or “regards”)
• saludos (“greetings” or “regards”)
• saludos cordiales (“kind regards”)
• recibe un saludo (“best regards”, literally “receive a greeting”)
• mándale saludos de mi parte (“send him/her my regards”)
• un saludo para todos (“greetings to everyone”)

The Verbs “To Say Hi” in Spanish

The two most useful ways to express “say hi” are decir hola and saludar. They overlap, but the sentence pattern changes: you say hello to someone, while saludar takes that person as its direct object.

Decir hola

The present forms of decir are worth recognising because the first-person singular is irregular and the vos and vosotros forms share the spelling decís.

• yo digo
• tú dices
• vos decís
• él/ella/usted dice
• nosotros/nosotras decimos
• vosotros/vosotras decís
• ellos/ellas/ustedes dicen

For a request or instruction, use the imperative that matches the person you are addressing.

• di with tú
• decí with vos
• diga with usted
• digamos with nosotros/nosotras
• decid with vosotros/vosotras
• digan with ustedes

Useful examples are Dile hola a Marta de mi parte (“Say hi to Marta for me”), Decidles hola a vuestros padres (“Say hi to your parents”) and Digamos hola a los nuevos vecinos (“Let's say hello to the new neighbours”).

Saludar

Saludar means to greet someone or send greetings. Its present-tense forms are regular.

• yo saludo
• tú saludas
• vos saludás
• él/ella/usted saluda
• nosotros/nosotras saludamos
• vosotros/vosotras saludáis
• ellos/ellas/ustedes saludan

Compare Saluda a tu hermana de mi parte (“Say hi to your sister for me”) with Dile hola a tu hermana de mi parte. The meaning is almost the same, but the grammar is different.

To turn this list into language you can actually use, choose one situation you expect this week, such as meeting a colleague or answering a call. Pick an opener, a follow-up and a reply, say the three lines aloud, then retrieve them without looking. Use them in one real exchange and write down the wording you hear back. That final step teaches you the local version instead of leaving you with a generic list.

Once the opening feels comfortable, our guide to asking questions in Spanish will help you keep the conversation moving.

And when it is time to finish the conversation, here are 65+ ways to say goodbye in Spanish.