How To Speak Spanish Like A Native

Whether you like to spend your holidays under the sun, or you just simply like Spanish speaking cultures…you might need to learn how to build conversation with these friendly (and not at all quiet) people.

Yes, Latin American people (and, let's face it… Spanish people are pretty much the Latino part of Europe) love to talk! Just as much as we like to hug or dance, haha. So I know how important it is for new learners to know how to keep small talk flowing. That’s why this article is not about grammar, but rather all the ways you can feel like a local and chit-chat with people like an old friend.

Saludar

So, let’s start for the basics: Los saludos. How to say “Hi” in all the different situations that might happen to you during your adventure. The first thing to say here is that we must pay attention to context. We differentiate, for instance, between formal or informal. So, it’s not the same if you are talking with your beautiful Latina neighbour or if you are talking with the grandma of your girlfriend, ¿right? So pay attention to:

Hola (informal)

Para cualquier hora del día.

You can use it for everything! And with everyone. Is the most commonly used greeting.

Buenos días

Hasta las 12 (mediodía).

This one only goes until noon.

Buenas tardes

Desde las 12m hasta que se ponga el sol.

You can say this until sundown.

Buenas noches

Desde el atardecer hasta la mañana.

For any type of occasion as long as the sky is dark.

Que tengas (tú) buenos días / buenas tardes / buenas noches. (informal)

Que tenga (ud.) buenos días ... (formal)

You are wishing that person the best for the day

Que gusto de verte (informal)

Que gusto de verlo (formal)

“Nice to see you”.

Tanto tiempo sin verte (informal) / verle (formal)

“Long time no see!”

Preguntar por el bienestar de alguien

Here again, all the suggestions are possible. They also depend on formal or informal context and can be used in all Spanish speaking countries. They all mean: ¿How you doing?

¿Cómo estás (tú)? - informal

¿Cómo está Usted? – formal

This is most commonly used in Latin American countries.

¿Qué tal? (it doesn’t use a subject)

Used mostly in Spain.

¿Qué más?

Used in Colombia.

¿Cómo te va? (informal)

¿Cómo le va? (formal)

¿Cómo has estado?

It goes like: “How you have been doing lately?”

¿Cómo te ha ido?

*You can add: hoy (today) esta semana (this week), to be more specific.

¿Cómo está(n) tu _____? hermano(s), novia, familia, padre(s), etc.

To ask about the wellbeing of loved ones. It's used as a gesture of interest and to show how much you care about the person and all that goes around he/she.

And, let’s not forget how to answer those questions. Here are some of the most commons answers. They are basic, because it’s just small talk! So, if you really want to talk about your life, stay tuned for my lessons and upcoming articles about “deep Spanish”.

Bien, ¿y tú? / ¿y Ud?
Todo bien, mucho trabajo y muy ocupado → I’ve had a lot of work so I’ve been busy.
En mi casa (that means your family) todos están muy bien.

Preguntar en detalle

Now we start going into the details of small talk. If you like to show more interest in the person and ask how everything is going in his/her life, you can use these phrases:

¿Qué has hecho (últimamente)? → ¿What have you been doing lately?
¿Qué hay de nuevo? → ¿What’s new?
¿Qué (me) cuentas? → ¿What do you have to tell me? And I know, sounds weird. But we used it like to ask for the news in one person’s life.

There is no specific formula to answer that, because it will depend on the recent events and highlights of your life. So, just to fill up, if you don’t want to get into detail, you can say: Todo bien / Nada nuevo.

After all these formalities, we can decide which topic we want to use to keep the flame burning. And at this point, small talk is the same in all languages. Therefore, you can decide between those “light” topics like weather, news, compliments or even the context. So, here, I will help you out with some examples.

Weather → El tiempo (o clima)

“how crazy is the weather, right?”

-¡Qué tiempo loco, no?

- ¡Totalmente! Estaba lloviendo y ahora hace sol. .. ya no se sabe si abrigarse o salir en shorts.

“How hot is it here?” (and how people here resist this burning sun)

-¡Uff! ¡Qué calor tan impresionante! Más de 30 grados ya.

-¡Increíble, sí! pero espero en la noche se ponga más fresquito.

News or recent events → Noticias de actualidad.

When there are tragedies occurring in the world:

-¿Te enteraste de la tragedia en Tailandia?

-Sí, lo escuché hoy a la mañana. Es tan horrible que no lo puedo creer.

When speaking about pop-culture:

- ¿Vas a ir al concierto de Coldplay? Creo que van a venir en diciembre.

- ¡Qué bien! Si tengo dinero me compro un bolete.

When speaking about social events:

- ¿Vas a ir al cumpleaños de María? Lo va a celebrar en Provenza.

- Sí, claro. ¡No me lo pierdo! Va a estar buenísimo.

Compliments → Hacer cumplidos

Complimenting hair (always good):

-¡Laura, qué brillante tienes el pelo hoy!

-¿Si? Estoy usando la crema que me recomendaste.

Complimenting clothing:

-¡Te veo muy elegante hoy, Pablo!

-Sí, es que tengo una cena después del trabajo.

Context → Contexto

Speaking about surroundings:

-Este parque está un poco abandonado, ¿no?

Sí, se ve que hace mucho que no cortan el césped.

Speaking about the neighbourhood:

-¿Te gusta tu nuevo barrio, Juana?

-¡Me encanta! Está lleno de bares bonitos y el supermercado y el gimnasio me quedan muy cerca de casa.

Now I will give you general answers for the (unlikely or rather very likely) case that you didn’t understand something or just don’t know what to say.

Let’s say they give you bad news or they say they aren’t doing so well: