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| Basic Spanish Words and Phrases | Here are the basic Spanish words for you to know:
Greetings
Hello is “Hola” – like holler but do not pronounce the “h”.
Good Morning is “Buenos días” – bwon-oz dee-as (literally this means “Good day”).
To say “Good afternoon” you have to substitute “tardes” – tard-ez for “días” to make “Buenos tardes”.
Attracting Attention
A good way to attract the attention of somebody who is passing by would be to say “Por favor” – pore-fav-or. You almost certainly know that this means “please”. Once you have somebody's attention you can ask them for what you need, or what you need to know. “Where is...” in Spanish is “Donde es” – don-day ez, and you can then add on the name of a street or hotel.
“Where are the toilets” – surely a very useful set of words – is “Donde están los servicios” –dond-estan loz serv-ith-i-oz.
If you are in a restaurant or store you might want to say “I want”, to point to what you are looking for. “I want” in Spanish is “Quiero” – key-air-o. So, “I want water” would be: “Quiero agua” – key-air-o ag-wa. You can soften this a little by saying “Please, I want some water” – “Por favor, quiero algo agua” – pore-fav-or, key-air-o al-go ag-wa.
Other essential words you might need to know in this preliminary Spanish conversation words.
“I need...” is “Necesito” – neth-e-seeto.
“Can I...” is “Puedo?” – pway-do. You could add on to these words the name of something.
At the end of our hypothetical basic Spanish conversation you will need to say “goodbye”. This can be “Adios” – ad-e-oz, but it is more usual to say “Hasta la vista” – asta-la-vista. This phrase is used amongst Spanish speaking people as English speakers would say “See you later”.
The basic Spanish words and phrases here are the starting point for learning everyday conversational Spanish, and it is much easier than you might have thought. It is also a lot of fun, if you use a modern audio-based course and do not let yourself get bogged down in grammar text books.
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