Greetings (Saludos)

The type of greeting that you can use in Spanish depends greatly on the formality of the situation that you find yourself in. Here are three ways to greet someone in Spanish:

Formal Greeting	Informal Greeting	Very Informal Greeting
Hola, ¿Cómo está usted?	¿Cómo te va?	¿Qué Onda?

The Importance of a Greeting:

A greeting is a basic form of courtesy in human society. It’s a simple way to show someone unfamiliar that you are friendly and/or respectful. It’s important to understand how to be able to greet someone in all types of social situations, whether they be very formal or very informal. In this article, we’ll show you different ways to greet someone in Spanish so that the next time you encounter a Spanish-speaker, you’ll be able to show off your manners.

Formal Greetings:

You can use the greetings in the following list in basically any situation. Remember that in Spanish, tú

• Vos
• Usted
• Ustedes
• Vosotros

Are all ways to say you. To make the list simpler, we’ll just show the Spanish greetings that use usted and ustedes (in the masculine form).

List of Formal Greetings:

Spanish	English
Hola	Hello
¿Cómo está? (Formal Singular)	How are you?
¿Cómo están? (Formal Plural)	How are you?
Hola, ¿Cómo está? (Formal Singular)	Hello, How are you?
Hola, ¿Cómo  están? (Formal Plural)	Hello, How are you?
Mucho Gusto	It’s nice to meet you
Buenos  Dias	Good morning
Buenas Tardes	Good afternoon
Buenas Noches	Good Evening

•Tú is used when talking to people you know, like your friends, or people the same age as you or younger.

•Usted is used when talking to someone you don’t know, someone older, or someone to whom you wish to show respect and formality.

Informal Greetings:

The greetings in this list are a little more informal. They can also be used in many social situations, from an encounter between friends to interactions with coworkers.

Spanish	English
Hola.	Hi. / Hey.
¿Cómo estás? (Informal Singular)	How’re you? / How are you doing?
¿Cómo están? (Informal Plural)	How’re you? / How are you doing?
Hola, ¿cómo estás? (Informal Singular)	Hi. How’re you?
Hola, ¿cómo están? (Informal Plural)	Hi. How’re you?
¿Qué hay de nuevo?	What’s new?
¿Cómo te va? (Informal Singular)	How’s it going?
¿Cómo les va? (Informal Plural)	How’s it going?
¿Qué onda?	What’s up?
¿Qué pasa?	What’s up?
¿Cómo van las cosas?	How are things?

Here are some exercises on the subject:
And you can download it Here