The universal hello: Hola
Hola (OH-lah) is the one greeting that works everywhere — every country, every formality level, every time of day. If you only learn one, learn this.
Pair it with a name or pronoun for warmth: ‘Hola, María’ or ‘Hola, ¿cómo estás?’ — sounds more natural than a bare ‘hola.’
Time-of-day hellos
Spanish speakers default to time-based greetings more than English speakers do:
- Buenos días — Good morning (until ~noon)
- Buenas tardes — Good afternoon (noon to ~sunset)
- Buenas noches — Good evening / night
- ¡Buenas! — Casual catch-all (Spain especially)
Casual hellos for friends
These sound natural and relaxed between people your own age:
- ¿Qué tal? — How’s it going? (universal)
- ¿Cómo andas? — How are you doing? (Argentina, Uruguay)
- ¿Qué pasa? — What’s up? (Spain)
- ¿Qué hay? — What’s new? (Colombia)
- ¿Cómo va? — How’s it going? (Latin America)
Mexican hellos
Mexico has the richest variety of casual hellos in Spanish:
- ¿Qué onda? — What’s up? (the classic)
- ¿Qué pedo? — What’s up? (vulgar, friends only)
- ¿Quihúbole? / ¿Qué hubo? — What’s going on?
- ¿Qué tranza? — What’s the deal?
- ¡Órale, qué onda! — Hey, what’s up!
Formal hellos
For work, strangers, or anyone you’d address as usted:
- Buenos días, ¿cómo está usted? — Good morning, how are you?
- Mucho gusto — Pleased to meet you (first introduction)
- Encantado / Encantada — Delighted (introduction)
- Es un placer — It’s a pleasure