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"Hey whats up?"
"How are you?"
"How are you doing?"
In our everyday encounters with other people, we use these expressions again and again.
In this post, you'll learn eight more ways to say "How are you?" in Spanish they aresomething more exciting.
I'll even provide some appropriate answers.
Contents
- The basic greeting: How are you?
- Why You Should Go Beyond the Basics with How Are You?
- "How are you doing?" in Spanish: 8 ways to change this greeting
- How are you)?
- What works?
- How are you?
- how is everything?
- How is it going?
- How are you doing?
- What works?
- What's up?
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The basic greeting:How are you doing?
You must of course learn the basics before you can overcome them.
The simplest greeting you would use to ask "How are you?" to someonein an informal setting, Is:
How are you doing?(How are you doing?)
A slight variation of this greeting isHow are you doing?This means exactly the same thing but includes the optional pronounOf(Of).
In Spanish, the way you conjugate a verb changes depending on how many people you're addressing and whether you're in a formal or informal situation. In this case,the important verb is estar(be).
(If you're not sure about verb conjugation, read upthis basic guidefor the conjugation of the Spanish present tense.)
Depending on who you're talking to, you may need to adjust your conjugation slightly. For each of the examples below, I will provide the followingthe appropriate pronounin brackets. As well asOfin the example above, these pronouns are optional and do not affect the meaning of the sentence.
How are you doing)?
The pronounOfrefers to a singular "you" in a formal situation. Use this greeting when speaking to a stranger, someone much older than you, or someone in a superior position. For example you could useHow are you doing?when you greet your friend's grandfather, your boss, your professor, the Queen of Spain and so on.
How are you doing)?
Ofrefers to a plural "you". Use it when greeting two or more people at once.
throughout Latin America,Ofcan be used in formal or informal situations. In Spain it is used exclusively in formal situations (egOf).
How are you doing)?
If you speak Spanish in Spain,use youwhen you are speaking to a group of people in an informal setting, e.g. B. when talking to a group of friends.
There are many ways to respond to the "How are you?" greeting.
In Spanish, a safe answer is:
Good, thanks. And you?(Well thank, and you?)
This is a polite and easy way to keep the conversation going.
If you're in a formal situation or talking to more than one person, you'll naturally want to substituteOfforyou, all of youorOfin which case.
Why You Should Go Beyond the Basics with How Are You?
Sure, the above will walk you through basic Spanish conversations. But why stop there? There are countless ways to greet and be greeted in Spanish - it's a good idea to know more than one.
Learning alternate greetings can allow you to vary your tone to suit more formal or casual situations.You wouldn't greet your best friend the way you would greet a customer, would you? It's the same in Spanish - different greetings sound more natural in different companies.
Plus,Varying your speech patterns will help yousound more like a native speaker.I bet when you speak in English you don't keep repeating the phrase "How are you?". They probably change it with phrases like "How are you?" or "What's up?" Going beyond "How are you?" means going beyond the Spanish class andlearn real spanish.
Not to mention,Learning colloquial alternatives to common idioms can be a lot of fun.If you're ever unsure about a slang term, we recommend language learning forums like the one onWordReferenzcan be great resources. You can also check the meaning of slang words with the context dictionary enabledfluentU. Once you find the meaning of a new word, you can create a flashcard of it and see how it's used by native speakers in the program's library's authentic Spanish videos.
Finally, it's good to expand your vocabulary because — duh! –Native speakers will use these phrases when speaking to you!When they do, you want to be able to understand and respond.
"How are you doing?" in Spanish: 8 ways to change this greeting
For each of these greetings, I'll let you know how to respond politely. Of course, you can also react to each of these greetings by telling the other person how you are actually feeling.
But when you're talking to strangers or acquaintances, it's good to know how to give a noncommittal response like "I'm fine" or "Oh, not much."
Unsure how to pronounce any of the words in this post?Forvois a great resource with crowdsourced pronunciations provided by native speakers.
How are you)?
The verbgomeans "to go" or "to go," so this greeting is similar to "How's it going?" in English. It's a little more casual and slouchy than the basicHow are you doing?
Gois aregular -ar verb, so its other conjugations are:
How are you doing)?
How are you doing?
How are you doing?
You can respond to it the same way you would replyHow are you doing?An answer likeGUT(Gut),Pretty good(pretty good) orVery good(very good) is appropriate.
What works?
This greeting is quite colloquial. It literally means "What are you telling me?" Think of it as the Spanish equivalent of "What's going on?"
It would be a little awkward to use this greeting in theOfForm since it's so informal - but here are all the conjugations, just in case.
ForOf:what is it telling me
ForOf:you tell me
ForOf:What are you telling me?
Notice thistellis astem changing verb!
When someone asks you, "What's going on? in English you could reply with "Oh, not much". It's similar in Spanish. if someone asks youWhat works?You could respond with something like:
anything.(Nothing.)
Nothing special.(Nothing special.)
The normal.(The usual.)
Few.(Few.)
It would sound a little odd to reply with something like thatGood, thanks.It might be difficult to keep track of, but if you practice enough you will get therebegin to recognize unconsciouslywhich reaction sounds right and which sounds uncomfortable.
How are you?
This greeting means something like "How are you?" It can be used in formal or informal situations. In this case, to change the greeting, you must change theindirect object pronounout ofDieTothe... theoros.
ForOf:How are you doing?
ForOf:How are you doing?
ForOf: How are you doing?
When you answer that, you can reuse the verbva(it goes), from the infinitiveAnd(go).
I'm doing well.(It runs fine.)
I'm not doing well.(Things are going badly.)
You can replaceGUTormalwith any other appropriate adjective you can think of. Some examples arespectacular(spectacular),genial(Great),normal(normal),regular(just okay) orabominable(disgusting).
how is everything?
Very similar to the last one, this sentencemeans "how is everything going?"
Luckily, there are no verbs to conjugate and no indirect objects to change in this case—you can use the same greeting no matter what situation you're in.
To answer you can sayIt's all ___,Fill in any adjective that matches your mood. (Examples see above.)
How is it going?
This greeting means "How are you?" As in the previous case, no conjugation is required here, since the verbdelivery trucks(they go) refers to the nounThings(the things).
If someone asks you about it, you can answer with a simple answerGUT(good orMal(bad),or you can form a whole sentence like:
Things are going well.(Things are going well.)
How are you doing?
Theis an informal greeting among friends in a relaxed atmosphere. It is similar to the English "What's up?"
Unlike the English "What's up?" You shouldnotanswer toHow are you doing?with "Nothing much" or a variant of it. Answer with an adjective instead—good, bad, so-so, great, terrible,etc. – how you would react to itHow are you doing?
What works?
This super informal greeting literally means "What's there?" and should only be used in very casual, friendly situations. You can think of it as an abbreviation ofwhat's new(What's new?). Again, there are no conjugations to worry about.
A good, appropriately casual response to this greeting would be something likeEverything's ok(all good) orI am not complaining(I can not complain).
What's up?
This Spanish greeting has crossed over into English-speaking slang, so you might already be familiar with it! It's another very colloquial way of asking, "What's up?" or "What's up?"
A normal answer would be a variant ofanythingorThe normal.See the section aboutWhat works?for some examples of good answers.
The next time you need to greet someone in Spanish, get out of your comfort zone!
You wouldn't just repeat, "How are you?" over and over again in your native language and there is no reason to do it in Spanish.
Native speakers will pick up on your varied vocabulary and make you sound much more natural as a result.
Download:This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere.Click here for a copy. (Download)