you say hasta mañana (see you tomorrow).
See you…!
| ¡Hasta luego! | See you! |
| ¡Hasta pronto! | See you soon! |
| ¡Hasta mañana! | See you tomorrow! |
| ¡Hasta el lunes! | See you on Monday! |
You’ll want to introduce people you know to one another. The simplest way is by saying éste es (this is) when introducing a man, and ésta es when introducing a woman.
This is…
| José, éste es mi marido. | José, this is my husband. |
| Pedro, ésta es Marta Valls. | Pedro, this is Marta Valls. |
| Quiero presentarte a nuestro director de ventas, Jorge Mata. | Let me introduce you to our sales director, Jorge Mata. |
| Quiero que conozcas a mi amigo Daniel. | I’d like you to meet my friend Daniel. |
¿LO SABÍAS?
When you’re introduced to someone, you’ll want to know how to react. The traditional encantado should only be used in formal or business situations these days, and very often people just say ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?. You would reply in the same way – ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?.
To get the conversation going, you’ll need to be able to say at least what your name is, who you are or what you do, and where you’re from. Saying what your name is is rather different in Spanish from English. You say me llamo (literally I call myself). me llamo comes from the verb llamarse. If you want to say what someone else is called you use se llama. For more information on reflexive verbs like llamarse, see here.
My name is…
| Me llamo Daniel Norrington. | My name is Daniel Norrington. |
| Me llamo Liz Owen. | My name is Liz Owen. |
| Me llamo Jack. | My name is Jack. |
| Se llama Kevin. | His name is Kevin. |
| Se llama Helen. | Her name is Helen. |
I’m…
| Soy amigo de Paul. | I’m a friend of Paul’s. |
| Soy el hermano de Rodrigo. | I’m Rodrigo’s brother. |
| Soy soltero. | I’m single. |
| Soy maestro. | I’m a teacher. |
| Soy representante. | I’m a rep. |
| Trabajo de programador para Compumax. | I work as a programmer for Compumax. |
¿LO SABÍAS?
When you say what you do in Spanish, don’t include a word for a or an before your job: soy maestro (I’m a teacher), soy enfermera (I’m a nurse).
To say how old you are, use tengo followed by your age and then años (literally I have… years). tengo comes from the verb tener. For more information on tener, see here.
I’m…years old
| Tengo veintidós años. | I’m twenty-two years old. |
| Tengo treinta y siete años. | I’m thirty-seven. |
| Mi hijo tiene siete años. | My son’s seven. |
| ¿Cuántos años tienes? | How old are you? |
I have…
| Tengo dos hermanas. | I have two sisters. |
| Tengo un hijo y una hija. | I have a son and a daughter. |
| Tenemos familia en el sur de España. | We have relatives in the south of Spain. |
| ¿Tienes hijos? | Have you got any children? |
I live…
| Vivo en Gales. | I live in Wales. |
| Vivo solo. | I live on my own. |
| Vivimos en un apartamento. | We live in a flat. |
¿LO SABÍAS?
Remember to say vivo sola rather than vivo solo if you’re female.
I’m staying…
| Estoy en el Excelsior Palace. | I’m staying at the Excelsior Palace. |
| Estoy en casa de unos amigos. | I’m staying with friends. |
| Me quedo una semana en Madrid. | I’m staying in Madrid for a week. |
| Me voy a quedar unos cuantos días más. | I’m going to stay for a few more days. |
To talk about yourself, you’ll need to be able to say how long you’ve been doing something, such as learning Spanish! One way to do this is to use hace followed by the length of time and then que and the verb in the present. For more information on the present tense, see here. You can also use llevo to mean I’ve been in examples like these.
I’ve been…for…
| Hace cinco años que soy enfermera. | I’ve been a nurse for five years. |
| Hace diez años que vivo en España. | I’ve been living in Spain for ten years. |
| Hace sólo dos días que estoy aquí. | I’ve only been here for two days. |
| Llevo dos semanas en Madrid. | I’ve been in Madrid for two weeks. |
| Llevo dos años estudiando español. | I’ve been studying Spanish for two years. |
| Llevo seis meses de camarera. | I’ve been a waitress for six months. |
There may be times when you wish to make an apology to somebody. The simplest way to do this is to say perdona (to someone you