We meet new people all the time, don’t we? At parties, at work, on vacations, through mutual friends, or by coincidence.
“Hi, I’m James, nice to meet you.”
“How do you do, sir? My name is Richard Brown.”
“Please meet my wife.”
Well, you know the drill.
What if I asked you to introduce yourself in Spanish? Would you know how?
In case you’re not all that sure, you may find this post quite useful.
The ABC…and D of Introducing Yourself in Spanish
- Always start with a greeting, e.g., “Hola,” “Buenos días,” “Buenas tardes.”
- Before you say your name, ask: “¿Qué tal?”, ¿”Cómo estás?”, etc.
- Courtesy requires making some small-talk after introducing yourself.
- Do get ready for some cheek kissing or back-patting.
Basic greetings in Spanish
Whenever we introduce ourselves, good manners require us to greet the other person. Some of the most common greetings in Spanish involve:
🇪🇸 ¡Hola!
🇬🇧 Hello!
🇪🇸 ¡Buenos días!
🇬🇧 Good morning!
🇪🇸 ¡Buenas tardes!
🇬🇧 Good afternoon!
🇪🇸 ¡Buenas noches!
🇬🇧 Good evening!
And when you want to ask how someone is, you can choose between one of the following expressions:
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo estás? – informal, refering to the pronoun tú
🇬🇧 How are you?
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo está?- formal, refering to the pronoun usted
🇬🇧 How are you?
For those of you who are just starting to learn Spanish, please keep in mind that this language, unlike English, doesn’t require you to mention the subject every time you conjugate a verb.
Since Spanish verbs change their form according to the subject, you can easily guess what pronoun they refer to. That is one of the principal differences between Spanish and English and quite a challenge for native English speakers.
Consequently, when you want to greet a group of people, these two expressions above will have to be transformed to:
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo estáis? – informal, refering to the pronoun vosotros. It is only used in Spain.
🇬🇧 How are you?
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo están?
🇬🇧 How are you?
This last sentence refers to the pronoun ustedes, which in Spain is considered formal, yet in Latin America, you can use it independently of the formality level. The use of ustedes y vosotros is one of several differences between European and Latin American Spanish.
Are there any other common greetings in Spanish? There certainly are. I have even dedicated an entire post on that topic, which I encourage you to take a look at.
Just to mention a few:
🇪🇸 ¿Qué tal? – less informal than the English equivalent, can be used in any situation
🇬🇧 What’s up?
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo te va?
🇬🇧 How are you doing?
Keep in mind that the form te corresponds to the subject tú. If you change the subject to usted, vosotros, or ustedes, you’ll need to replace the word te with le, os, and les, respectively.
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo has estado?
🇬🇧 How have you been?
Similarly to the previous example, the auxiliary “has” is the form used with the subject tú. If you wish to change your subject to usted, vosotros, or ustedes, the auxiliary will need to be replaced with ha, habéis, han.
🇪🇸 Test Your Spanish Knowledge 🇪🇸
🇪🇸 ¿Cómo te ha ido?
🇬🇧 Literally: How has it been going?
How to introduce yourself or others in Spanish
I hope I haven’t bored you with those few grammar explanations. Grammar is not much fun, I totally get it, but it does help to get certain basic things straight from the very beginning.
So, we’ve said our hellos and greetings, and it is now time to introduce ourselves in Spanish.
This is how a native Spaniard or a Latin American would go about it:
🇪🇸 Soy Luis.
🇬🇧 I’m Luis.
🇪🇸 Me llamo Carla.
🇬🇧 My name is Carla.
🇪🇸 Mi nombre es José Luis.
🇬🇧 My name is José Luis.
🇪🇸 Quiero que conozcas a mis padres.
🇬🇧 I would like you to meet my parents.
🇪🇸 Te presento a mi novio.
🇬🇧 Let me introduce my boyfriend.
Te refers to the pronoun tú. For usted, vosotros, and ustedes, the word te will change to le, os, les, respectively.
🇪🇸 Ella es Sofía, mi hermana.
🇬🇧 She’s Sofía, my sister.
🇪🇸 Permítame presentarle a mi jefe. – formal
🇬🇧 Let me introduce my boss to you.
“Nice to meet you” and other courtesy expressions in Spanish.
“Nice to meet you” is what you’d typically say in English when someone introduces themselves to you, right?
Does this expression have any Spanish equivalent?
By all means! There are several phrases you can choose from:
🇪🇸 ¡Mucho gusto!
🇬🇧 Nice to meet you!
🇪🇸 ¡Encantado! / !Encantada! – remember that Spanish adjectives have genders!
🇬🇧 Pleased to meet you!
If you want, you can add “en conocerte” to both expressions. Adjusting the particle te to other subjects follows the same rules I explained before.
🇪🇸 ¡Un placer!
🇬🇧 A pleasure!
🇪🇸 Es un placer conocerte.
🇬🇧 It’s a pleasure to meet you.
🇪🇸 ¡Qué gusto conocerte por fin!
🇬🇧 What a pleasure to finally meet you!
🇪🇸 ¡Igualmente!
🇬🇧 You too!
🇪🇸 ¡El placer es mío!
🇬🇧 The pleasure is mine!
Small talk ideas in Spanish
So, you’ve greeted each other, made your introductions, exchanged some pleasantries, and now what? To avoid awkward silence and not to know what to say next (or how to say it in Spanish), let me show you a few small talk ideas in Spanish:
🇪🇸
A:¿Qué te parece (la fiesta / el evento / la conferencia / el seminario / la reunión?)
B: Excelente / más o menos / un poco aburrido(a) / muy informativo (a)
🇬🇧
A: How do you like (the party / the event / the conference / the seminar / the meeting?)
B: Excellent / so-so / a little boring / very informative
🇪🇸
A: ¿De dónde eres?
B: De Alemania, ¿y tú?
🇬🇧
A: Where are you from?
B: From Germany, and you?
🇪🇸
A: ¿A qué te dedicas?
B: Soy profesor / arquitecto / ingeniero / abogado / médico / estudiante
🇬🇧
A: What do you do for a living?
B: I am a teacher / an architect / an engineer / a lawyer / a doctor / a student
🇪🇸
A: ¿En qué empresa trabajas?
B: En una empresa de TI canadiense. Se llama Cometix.
🇬🇧
A: What company do you work for?
B: In a Canadian IT company. Its name is Cometix.
🇪🇸
A: ¿Qué haces en México?
B: Estoy de visita / vine de negocios / estoy acá por mi trabajo / vine de vacaciones
🇬🇧
A: What are you doing in Mexico?
B: I’m visiting / I came on business / I’m here for work / I came on holiday
🇪🇸
A: ¿Hace mucho que estás en España?
B: Unos 4 años ya / no, recién llevo un par de meses / llegué hace 1 semana
🇬🇧
A: Have you been in Spain for long?
B: About 4 years now / no, I’ve only been here for a few months / I arrived a week ago.
🇪🇸
A: ¿Dónde aprentiste a hablar español?
B: En el colegio / en la universidad / mi marido es argentino / solo (a)
🇬🇧
A: Where did you learn Spanish?
B: At school / at the university / my husband is Argentinean / on my own
For the record, learning Spanish by yourself is totally possible if you know how to go about it.
How to introduce yourself in Spanish – 6 mini dialogues
To give you a better idea of what introductions in Spanish would look like, I have prepared six short conversations. Have a look:
1. Sofía and Pablo meet at a party:
🇪🇸
A: Hola, ¿qué tal? Me llamo Pablo.
B: Hola, Pablo, soy Sofía. Mucho gusto en conocerte.
A: ¡Igualmente! ¿Qué te parece la fiesta?
🇬🇧
A: Hi, what’s up? My name is Pablo.
B: Hi, Pablo, I’m Sofía. Nice to meet you.
A: Nice to meet you too! How do you like the party?
2. Ignacio is introducing his girlfriend – Paloma – to his parents:
🇪🇸
A: Mamá, papá, ella es Paloma, mi novia. Nos conocimos el verano pasado en México.
B: ¡ Qué gusto conocerte al fin, querida! ¡Bienvenida! ¿Cómo estuvo tu vuelo?
C: Todo bien, gracias por preguntar. Ignacio me ha hablado tanto de ustedes!
🇬🇧
A: Mom, Dad, this is Paloma, my girlfriend. We met last summer in Mexico.
B: How nice to finally meet you, darling! Welcome! How was your flight?
C: All good, thank you for asking. Ignacio has told me so much about you.
3. Felipe and Joaquin meet at an international conference:
🇪🇸
A: Buenos días, señor, ¿cómo le va? Mi nombre es Joaquín Gimenez, de la empresa Cachantún.
B: ¿Qué tal, Joaquín? Soy Felipe Rodriguez de Pepsico España. Es un placer conocerle.
A: El placer es mío. ¿Lleva muchos años en la industria?
🇬🇧
A: Good morning, sir, how do you do? My name is Joaquín Gimenez, from the Cachantún company.
B: How do you do, Joaquín? I’m Felipe Rodriguez from Pepsico, Spain. It’s a pleasure to meet you.
A: The pleasure is all mine. Have you been in this industry for many years?
4. Alejandra and Ricardo meet at the university:
🇪🇸
A: Hola, ¿te molesta si me siento al lado?
B: No, para nada. Soy Ricardo, y tú ¿cómo te llamas?
A: Soy Alejandra, pero todos me dicen Ale. ¿De qué facultad eres?
🇬🇧
A: Hi, do you mind if I sit next to you?
B: No, not at all. I’m Ricardo, and what’s your name?
A: I’m Alejandra, but everyone calls me Ale. What faculty are you from?
5. Raquel and Ezequiel meet at an event:
🇪🇸
A: ¡Hola Raquel! ¿Te acuerdas de mi? Soy Ezequiel, de la Universidad de Desarrollo.
B: !Ezequiel! Claro que me acuerdo! ¡Qué gusto verle! ¿Cómo has estado?
🇬🇧
A: Hi Raquel. Do you remember me? It’s Ezequiel, from the Universidad de Desarrollo.
B: Ezequiel! Of course, I remember you! So nice to see you! How have you been!
6. Juan Carlos is a speaker at a seminar. He is introducing himself to the audience:
🇪🇸
Hola a todos, bienvenidos a la charla. Mi nombre es Juan Carlos Pinto, soy profesor de economía en la Universidad de Barcelona y hoy les explicaré la diferencia entre crédito hipotecario y crédito de consumo.
🇬🇧
Hi everyone, welcome to my talk. My name is Juan Carlos Pinto. I’m an economy professor at the University of Barcelona, and today I am going to explain the difference between a mortgage loan and a consumer loan.
