Introductions (pt. 1/2) – Lesson 2

What you’ll learn in this lesson

In this lesson you’ll learn how to introduce yourself in Spanish: how to greet someone at any time of day, say “nice to meet you”, tell people your name, ask theirs, and say goodbye. That’s about 20 words and phrases, so this topic is split into two parts. This is part 1.

This is a vocabulary lesson (the blue lessons in the course). A language is basically two things together: grammar and vocabulary. We’ll get to grammar later; for now, let’s focus on words and phrases you can use right away.

Hello and welcome

You already know hola from lesson 1. Remember: the H is silent, so you say “ola”. And notice the upside-down exclamation mark at the start of ¡bienvenidos!: Spanish uses them at the beginning of exclamations, just like the upside-down question mark.

Good morning, good afternoon, good night

Watch the endings: it’s buenos días with -os, but buenas tardes and buenas noches with -as.

When do you use which one?

• Buenos días: in the morning, until about 12 o’clock.
• Buenas tardes: from about 12 o’clock into the evening. There’s no strict rule: you can use it until fairly late.
• Buenas noches: when it’s really late. For example, when you’ve been out for dinner and it’s 11 or 12 at night.

How to say “nice to meet you” in Spanish

When you meet someone new, you can say:

Is encantado de conocerte a bit long for now? Then just say encantado. It means the same thing.

Encantado or encantada?

Here we run into one of the first big differences with English: in Spanish, adjectives can be masculine or feminine. Don’t worry about the details yet (we’ll get to that in a later lesson). For now, just remember this:

• If you’re a man, you say encantado.
• If you’re a woman, you say encantada.

How to answer: igualmente

Someone says encantado or mucho gusto to you? Here’s a really useful word to answer with:

How to say your name in Spanish

There are different ways to say your name, but this is the one I recommend learning first:

See the double L in llamo? In Spanish, ll sounds like a “y”. So you don’t say “lamo”, you say “yamo”. Every time you see a double L, switch it to a “y” sound. We’ll go over this again in the next lesson about the alphabet.

When you ask ¿cómo te llamas?, the other person will most likely answer with me llamo… and their name.

How are you? And how to answer

You learned these two in lesson 1, and they’re perfect for introductions too:

In lesson 1 you answered with bien, gracias. Now you can also say:

Estoy means “I am”, and muy means “very”.

¿Y tú? or ¿Y usted?

Then you’ll probably want to ask how the other person is doing:

Use tú with friends, or someone your age you don’t need to be formal with. Use usted with an older person, or anyone you want to show extra respect to.

“I’m learning Spanish”: estoy aprendiendo español

Estoy means “I am” and aprendiendo means “learning”. And remember the ñ in español: it sounds like “ny”.

This is a super useful phrase in everyday life. When you tell people you’re learning Spanish, they usually get excited and want to help you: they’ll speak a bit slower and pronounce things more clearly, so you can understand them better.

Ways to say goodbye in Spanish

Pronto means “soon” and mañana means “tomorrow”. The H in hasta is silent, just like in hola. And of course, you can still say ¡adiós! from lesson 1.

Choose the ones you think you’ll use. Don’t think you’ll say “see you soon” very often? Then skip it for now. It never hurts to learn it, but with 20 new words, it’s fine to make a selection.

All Spanish introduction phrases from this lesson

Spanish	English
¡Hola!	Hello!
¡Bienvenidos!	Welcome!
¡Buenos días!	Good morning!
¡Buenas tardes!	Good afternoon!
¡Buenas noches!	Good night!
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■
■■■■■■■■	■■■■■■■■

+ 16 more words & phrases

Get all 21 words & phrases on one printable page, with examples and my tips. Free, straight to your inbox.

Get the free PDF ↓

Example conversation

Here’s how you could introduce yourself to someone new, using phrases from this lesson:

Practice: what do you say?

Try to answer out loud first, then check your answer.

1. It’s 9 o’clock in the morning. How do you greet someone?

¡Buenos días! (with -os).

2. Someone tells you “¡Mucho gusto!”. What do you answer?

¡Igualmente! Likewise!

3. How do you tell someone your name?

Me llamo + your name. Remember: ll sounds like “y”, so “me yamo”.

4. You’re a woman meeting someone new. Encantado or encantada?

Encantada. Men say encantado.

5. You’re talking to an older person. How do you ask “and you?”

¿Y usted? That’s the formal way. With friends, you say ¿y tú?

Quiz: test yourself

Ready? Answer the questions to see how much you remember.

Next: learn these words with flashcards

We went through a lot of words quite fast, so don’t worry if you feel a bit overwhelmed. Take your time, and pick the words you’ll actually use.

Want to really memorize them? Then I recommend using flashcards. The next video in the course, bonus #1: using flashcards to learn Spanish, explains what they are and how to use them to remember words and phrases. After that, in lesson 3, we’ll go over the Spanish alphabet. ¡Muchas gracias y hasta pronto!