Spanish Phrases
Spanish phrases are useful when you start off learning Spanish. By learning a few phrases for the most
common situations, you become functional in Spanish quickly. The easiest way to learn Spanish phrases is by
listening to the Pimsleur Spanish audio lessons, that you find on this site. To learn Spanish with spanish phrases
audio on your MP3 player is an easy and fun way to learn Spanish. Even if you only learn one Spanish phrase every
day, you will know quite a few Spanish phrases within a short time!
Common Spanish phrases
Let's start with a few common Spanish phrases that will come in handy in most situations where you meet with
Spanish speaking people. Even if you only know these few phrases, you will open the hearts of the people you speak
to. Knowing a few Spanish greeting words shows that you care and at least made an effort to learn a few words
Spanish. You will see, it's quite east to leans these Spanish words and phrases:
Spanish greetings
Being able to greet people in their language is the first step in meeting people and it's also basic
courtesy:
- ¡Buenos días! - Hello! or Good morning!
- ¡Buenas tardes! - Good afternoon!
- ¡Buenas noches! - Good evening! or Good night!
Simple Spanish phrases
These simple Spanish phrases are what follows a greeting normally, Spanish speaking people, like most people
around the world are a friendly lot and they love to exchange a few words about each other's well beeing:
- ¿Cómo está usted? - How are you? (formal)
- ¿Cómo estás? - How are you? (informal)
- ¿Qué tal? - How's it going?
- ¿Qué Hay De Nuevo? - What's New?
There is a significasnt difference between English and Spanish: There are two forms in which to address a
person. the friendly informal way, basically if you are talking to friends and people you know initimately and are
on first name terms, and the formal form. The formal form is used when meeting people you don't know, or who are
socially or hierarchically above you. This concept is used for all situations, and verbs are utilized
accordingly. The you informal and the you formal are two different things!
The answers to the above first three questions can be:
- Bien | Muy bien - Good |Very good
- Mal | Muy mal | Más o menos - Bad | Very bad | OK
Easy Spanish phrases
Asking about each other's names is soemthign that happens mostly when meeting new people. Here's how these
phrases go:
- ¿Cómo se llama usted? - What is your name? (formal)
- ¿Cómo te llamas? - What is your name? (informal)
- Me llamo... or Mi nombre es... - My name is...
Asking about origins and age happnes usually next:
- ¿De dónde es usted? - Where are you from? (formal)
- ¿De dónde eres? - Where are you from? (informal)
- Yo soy de... - I'm from...
- ¿Cuántos años tiene usted? - How old are you? (formal)
- ¿Cuántos años tienes? - How old are you? (informal)
- Yo tengo ... años. - I am ... years old.
Useful Spanish phrases
The more Spanish phrases and words you know, the easier the communication with people who only speak Spanish.
Here are a few useful Spanish phrases that will come in handy for sure:
- ¡Perdone! / ¡Oiga! - Excuse Me ...! ( to ask for something)
- ¡Perdone! / Disculpe! - Excuse Me! ( to pass by)
- ¡Lo Siento! - Sorry (for a mistake)
- ¡No Problema! - No Problem!
- ¡Discuple! - I'm Sorry! (if you don't hear something)
- ¡Puede Repetirlo! - Can You Say It Again?
- ¡Puedes Hablar Más Despacio! - Can You Speak Slowly?
- ¡Escríbalo, Por Favor! - Write It Down Please!
- ¡No Entiendo! - I Don't Understand!
Spanish phrases for tourists
When travelling in Spanish speaking countries, tourists often find people who speak more than just Spanish and
help them out in other languages like i.e. English or French. But when you travel in remote areas and small towns
or villages, the chance to find somebody who speaks your language diminishes rapidly. There it's good to know a few
Spanish phrase for toruists to make sure you can at least get the basics, like a room, food or
directions.
- ¿Que quieres comer? - What would you like to eat?
- ¿Que quieres beber? - What would you like to drink?
- ¿Que nos recomienda? - What would you recommend us?
- Quiero ver el menú, por favor. - I would like to see the menu, please.
- La cuenta, por favor. --Could I have the bill, please.
- ¿La propina está incluida? - Is service included?
- ¿Cuánto tiempo dure el viaje? - How long does the journey take?
- ¿Dónde es la parada de autobús más cerca? - Where's the nearest bus stop?
- ¿Está cerca de aquí? - Is it near here?
- Está muy cerca. - It's very near.
- Está bastante lejos. - It's quite far.
- He perdido mi pasaporte. - I've lost my passport.
Spanish love phrases
Is there anything more frustrating than meeting a beautiful girl or a handsome boy and not being able to
communicate? OK, you may say that in this case words are not neede anymore... but you have to get started somehow,
and these Spanish love phrases may come in very handy, should you meet the man or woman of your dream in a Spanish
speaking country. Here's the two most important ones:
- Te quiero. - I care for you or I cherish you
- Te amo - I love you
... but before you get there, you might need a few preparatory phrases, the communication and the evening
will take a good turn with these:
Romantic Spanish phrases
We all know that to build up a good relationship, a bit of small talk and flirting can get you a long way. So
prepare yourself and learn a few romantic Spanish phrases to impress your future partner: (Be careful to use
the proper ending of the adjectives. Generally ending on -a is the female and ending on -o is the male form)
- Tu sonrisa es bonita - You have a beautiful smile
- Tienes los ojos más bonitos del mundo - You have the prettiest eyes in the world
- Eres muy linda - You are very pretty (for a girl)
- Eres guapa (guapo) - You are beautiful (handsome)
- Bésame - Kiss me
- Abrázame - Hug me
- Hueles rico - You smell good
- Te voy a echar de menos - I am going to miss you
- Desde que te conocí no hago nada más que pensar en ti - Since I met you I do nothing else
except think of you
Funny Spanish phrases
It's maybe asked too much to learn telling jokes in Spanish, that would involve more than just learning some
emergency phrases to get by with the simple things in Spanish. But there are a few funny Spanish phrases we'd like
to show you here anyway:
- Mi bebida se siente sola. ¿Te gustaría acompañarme con la tuya? - My drink is getting lonely.
Would you like to join me with yours?
- Realmente no puedo hablar español; solo aprendí unas frases de una página web. - I can't
really speak Spanish; I only learned a few phrases from a web page.
- Pocas mujeres admiten su edad. Pocos hombres actuan de su edad. - Few women admit their
age. Few men act theirs.
Dirty Spanish phrases
To swear in Spanish is as bad as swearing in English! So learning dirty Spanish phrases is certainly not for
everyone. Also be aware that soemtimes learning bad Spanish words and not realizing how bad they might be
considered in some parts of the world, can be really dangerous. You are likely to pick up some bad Spanish words
when you travel anyhow, but specifically learning dirty Spanish phrases is not a good idea. cultures differ and the
use of a swear word that in English is common and not so bad, might trigger all sorts of violent reactions, becaus
it's a massive insult.
Therefore, our advice: Do not consciously learn dirty Spanish phrases! You're likely to pick them up when in a
Spanish speaking area anywho... We have heared stories of people who thought, because the literal Spanish
phrase translation did not sound too bad in their own language, they could use the same bad language in
Spanish. But they got very different reactions from the Spanish phrase than the reactions an English
phrase like this would have gotten.....
Spanish phrases
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