There are many different ways to say hello in Spanish.

Ey, bueno, and hola all mean the same thing; hello!

So how do you know which one to use?

To answer that question and similar ones related to greetings, we have compiled a list of 44 common expressions and their English equivalents.

Learning greetings will facilitate you breaking into Spanish culture and understanding Spanish speaking people.

Before we dig in, here are some of our recommended methods for memorizing Spanish greetings to help you get the most out of our list.

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How to Memorize Spanish Greetings

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1. Leverage Repetition Using Flashcards

Flashcards are the traditional way we all used to memorize vocabulary and jargon for college and school exams.

Memorizing Spanish greetings is no different–flashcards will help your memory commit and feel challenged to remember new expressions.

You can manually create Spanish flashcards by typing Spanish greetings into google images and printing your favorite pictures out on index cards. You can then divide the spanish flashcards into different piles, one spanish flashcard per Spanish greeting.

For example, "Basic Greetings" would be one pile, while "Holiday Greetings" would be another pile.

Alternatively, you can use flashcard software such as Anki to do the same, but digitally.

You then begin by examining your Spanish flashcards repetitively and testing yourself on Spanish greetings with another person, which leads us to the next memorization tip.

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2. Use Newly Learned Greetings in Real-Life Situations

When you start learning Spanish, it is important to commit Spanish greetings to memory so that the Spanish phrases become second nature.

One of the best ways to feel comfortable using Spanish greetings is using them in real-life Spanish speaking situations so they become second nature.

It is hard to stumble upon a neighbor and use the time-matching greeting to say hi such as buenas noches for good evening. You will want to continuously practice to get that one right every time. You will find yourself using the wrong time of day greeting many times, so practice definitely makes perfect in this case.

Keep in mind that you will always need real situations to learn how to use Spanish greetings authentically. Learning only theoretically will lead to an out of context or rather rustier usage of words.

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3. Get a Language Tutor

If you have the budget for online language classes (which should be pretty affordable on sites such as Rype), definitely get a subscription or regular classes with a professor of your choice to help you to not only practice your target greeting phrases, but also understand the exact scenarios they could be used in.

Your language tutor is your best bet for a one-stop-shop for Spanish. You can customize your learning experience based on your needs and levels, and in this case, all you will need to do is communicate your goal to learn Spanish greetings and your tutor will take care of how to get you there.

With all those methods in mind, here is our list of Spanish greetings, divided by use category.

Note that you will always want to use formal vocabulary and conjugation with people you don't know well or senior individuals.

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44 Common Spanish Greetings for Spanish Learners

Basic Greetings

• Hola - Hello (Casual)
• Buenos días - Good day (Formal)
• Buenas tardes - Good afternoon (Formal)
• Buenas noches - Good evening (Formal)

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Introductions

• ¿Cómo está? - How are you? (formal)
• ¿Cómo estás? - How are you? (informal)
• ¿Cómo se llama (usted)? - What's your name? (formal)
• ¿Cómo te llamas? - Whats your name? (informal)
• ¿De donde es usted? - Where are you from? (formal)
• ¿De donde eres? - Where are you from? (informal)
• Encantado de conocerte - Nice to meet you (casual)
• Placer conocerte - Pleasure to meet you (casual)
• Encantado - My pleasure (casual)
• Bienvenido - Welcome (casual)
• ¡Bienvenido de nuevo! - Welcome back! (casual)
• Ponte cómodo - Make yourself comfortable (casual)
• Mucho gusto - Much pleasure (casual)

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Checking In

• ¿Cómo está usted? - How are you? (formal)
• ¿Cómo estás? - How are you? (informal)
• ¿Cómo vas? - How's it going? (informal)
• ¿Qué pasa? - What's happening? (informal)
• ¿Cómo va tu día? - How is your day going (informal)
• ¿Qué tal? - What's up? (informal)
• ¿Como es la vida? - How's life? (informal)

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Phone Conversation

• Bueno - Hello (informal)
• ¿Aló? - Hello (casual)
• Diga - Tell me (informal)
• ¿Dónde has estado? - Where have you been? (informal)
• ¡Ha sido un tiempo! - It's been a while! (informal)
• ¡Hace tiempo que no te veo! - Long time no see! (informal)

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Holiday Greetings

• ¡Salud! - Cheers! (casual)
• ¡Feliz cumpleaños! - Happy Birthday! (casual)
• ¡Felices vacaciones! - Happy Holidays! (casual)
• ¡Feliz Navidad! - Merry Christmas! (casual)
• ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! - Happy New Year! (casual)

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Departing

• Nos vemos - We’ll see each other (informal)
• ¡Hasta! - Until! (informal)
• Hasta pronto - See you soon (informal)
• Hasta mañana - See you tomorrow (casual)
• Hasta la próxima semana - See you next week (casual)
• Hasta la vista - See you soon (casual)
• Hasta luego - See you later (casual)
• Adiós - Goodbye (casual)
• Chao - Bye (casual)

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Conclusion

There you have it!

All the Spanish greetings you may need to get you started compiled in one article. You can favorite this blog post on your browser bookmarkers or print it out to highlight your favorite expressions. Start out with the most basic sentences and slowly build up your vocabulary with more advanced options in the lists above.

Feel like practicing your first sentences right away but not sure where to start?

Enter Jumpspeak.

Jumpspeak is available at all times of your convenience, and helps you not only perfect your writing, but also your speech.

So not only will you be able to memorize more Spanish greetings, but you will also be able to learn how every expression is pronounced by natives as you go.

Jumpspeak is perfect for the learner that does not want to jump straight into social interaction and deal with the possible rejections or misunderstandings that might come with real-life language practice. Jumpspeak's technology won't judge you, but will help you just as good as a human language partner would, if not even better.

You can sign up for a free 7 day trial now and try all for yourself.

¡Feliz aprendizaje!