How to Have a Short Conversation in Spanish

Simple Greetings and Introduction

A good way to start the conversation is to greet the other by “Qué tal” or “Buenos días/Buenas noches.”

Then, you may want to give a bit more information about yourself. The two common verbs regarding introducing oneself are “ser” and “estar.”

When you need to greet others, you should always use “estar.”

¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?

Estoy bien. ¿Y tú?

Yo también.

If you want to describe a location, you also need “estar.” In the video below, when Doctor Hamster’s tortoise was missing, the children began to look for the tortoise. How do they describe Teodora’s location?

When you want to identify oneself, state your name, profession, characteristics, etc., you will need “ser.” For example, in this video, the duckling mistakes Tom as an excellent mother. He says, “Mi mami ES buena conmigo.” This is a good example to describe someone.

Age: How old are you?

Instead of “how old are you?”, Spanish speakers use “how many years do you have?” to ask about others’ age. That is to say, you will not hear “¿Qué viejo eres?”. The proper sentence is:

¿Cuántos años tienes (tú)?

You may have noticed that the subject “tú” is optional in Spanish, but never forget the accent mark in the word “cuántos.”

Note that if the listener is someone you know for the first time, you may need to use the polite form of “tener”:

¿Cuántos años tiene (usted)?

When answering, you can say “Tengo… años”.

Peppa and her classmates are curious about Doctor Hamster’s Tortoise. How do they ask the tortoise’s age? How old are their families?

Expressing ideas: I need and I think

Common ways to express your ideas include “necesitar”, “querer”, “ir a”, “parecer que”, “creer que”, etc. You can find many of their uses in videos on ClassHook. You can use these expressions to talk about your needs, your thoughts, and so on.

Saying Goodbye

When you want to end the conversation, The most common way is saying “¡Adiós!” You may also like other expressions like “¡Hasta luego!” Another common expression, especially when planning to meet up, is “Nos vemos,” or “See you.”

Can you try to start a short conversation in Spanish now? Don’t forget that there are a lot more other Spanish resources on ClassHook here.

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