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M$2 December 18, 2008 07:21 AM

What are the most useful introductory, basic Spanish phrases to learn?

And if you have a great site(s) to share for these phrases, please do!
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December 18, 2008 04:22 PM
http://i40.tinypic.com/mw2wdh.gif

Some Basic Phrases---------------------

¡Buenos días!
bway-nohs dee-ahs
Hello! / Good morning!

¡Buenas tardes!
bway-nahs tard-ays
Good afternoon! ¡Buenas noches!
bway-nahs noh-chays
Good evening! / Good night!

¡Hola! / ¡Chao!
oh-lah / chow
Hi! / Bye!

Adiós.
ah-dee-ohs
Good bye.

Por favor.
por fah-bor
Please.


Hasta la vista / Hasta luego.
ah-stah lah vees-tah / ah-stah loo-ay-go
See you / See you later.

Hasta pronto.
ah-stah prohn-toh
See you soon.

Hasta mañana.
ah-stah mahn-yahn-ah
See you tomorrow.


(Muchas) Gracias.
(moo-chahs) grah-see-ahs
Thank you (very much).

De nada.
day nah-dah
You're welcome.

Bienvenidos
byen-veh-nee-dohs
Welcome


Lo siento
loh see-ehn-toh
I'm sorry

Con permiso / Perdón
kohn pehr-mee-soh / pehr-dohn
Excuse me / Pardon

¡Vamos!
bah-mohs
Let's go!


¿Cómo está usted?
koh-moh ay-stah oo-sted
How are you? (formal)

¿Cómo estás?
koh-moh ay-stahs
How are you? (informal)

¿Qué tal?
kay tahl
How's it going?


If you want to learn some more phrases you can try out the following website-----http://www.ielanguages.com/spanish1.html

you can lalso listen to how they are spoken in the following website----------------http://www.ihes.com/bcn/spanish/audio/basic_phrases.html
Asker's Rating:
• Good list of key phrases, thank you.


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December 18, 2008 07:25 AM
Hello - Hola
My name is - Me llamo es [your name]
Where is the bathroom? - Donde esta el bano?
How do you say [whatever] in Spanish? - Como se dice [whatever] en espanol?

*Fixed as per comment below.

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December 18, 2008 07:30 AM
Correction on the last phrase: It should be "¿Como se dice [whatever] en español?". Aside from missing the upside-down question mark to make it a proper question, as written it translates to "How do you say [whatever] in English?"

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December 23, 2008 09:42 PM
Another correction would be Me llamo (your name). A literal translation of me llamo is I call myself, so me llamo es would be saying I call myself is (your name). You definitely don't want to say that unless you are looking for ridicule. Also, you can say "mi nombre es . . . (your name)" which is commonly used and translates exactly to my name is.

For some awesome tips on intermediate Spanish, check out Breaking Out Of Beginner's Spanish.

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Beginners-Spanish-Joseph-Keenan/dp/029274322X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230068702&sr=8-1

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December 18, 2008 07:28 AM
Obviously greetings (como estas, buenas dias, etc), saying your name (me llamo _____), and other basic conversational phrases are the best place to start. If you don't mind paying, I'd recommend Rosetta Stone (http://www.rosettastone.com/) I also found Spanish Made Easy (http://www.davidreilly.com/spanish/) which appears to be good for learning introductory phrases and basic verb conjugation.
Source(s):
http://www.davidreilly.com/spanish/, http://www.rosettastone.com/


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December 18, 2008 07:41 AM
Not useful in and of themselves, but given that a common trick with new speakers of a language is to get them to insult someone else in a lewd manner, if someone tells you to call someone "pendejo" or "maricon", they're being a jerk.

"Pleased to meet you" is "Mucho gusto".

Buenos dias (good day), noche (night)

Cuantos **** tu tienes? (How many do you have?) Insert whatever in here, can be used. If you want to know how old someone is, "Cuantos anos tu tienes?" for example.

Cuantos mas? (How many more?) If you want to ask how much more money, it'd be Cuantos mas dinero?

Que es la tiempo? (What time is it?)

Por favor - please
Gracias - thank you
Por ejemplo - for example

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December 18, 2008 07:45 AM
¿cuánto es ....
- How much is ....

uno cerveza por favor
- A beer please.

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December 18, 2008 10:52 AM
"¿Habla inglés?" or "¿Habla usted inglés?" for "Do you speak English?"
"No hablo español." for "I don't speak Spanish."
"No entiendo." for "I don't understand."

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December 18, 2008 12:08 PM
Sara, There are not basic Spanish phrases. The reason why i say this is because all depends on the country that you are in. e.i, In Mexico "cuero" means a good looking women, but the same word in The Dominican Republic, you could offend a female. So My advise is, get one of those online courses, which you can find on google, or if you dont want to pay there are TONS of free-downloadable softwares in mininova.org. Like Rosetta Stone (Spanish). But regarless of where you are, or what i said, you could always say:
Frases
Hola = Hello
Como estás? = How Are you?
Yo estoy muy bien, Gracias = I`m fine, Thanks
Me llamo Sara = My Name is Sara
Como te llamas? = What is your name?

COLORS
Rojo = Red
Azul = Blue
Rosado = Pink
Verde = Green

VERBS (The Most important one)
TO BE
Yo Soy = I AM Nosotros Somos = We are
Tu eres = You are Ustedes Son = You`all are
El es = He is Ellos Son = They are
Ella es = She is

I hope this helped you. If you need more help, just send a replay to this msg, and ill be glad to help you!.
Source(s):
Im a Certified Spanish Translator.


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December 23, 2008 09:46 PM
This is a great point. Spanish is not the same everywhere you go. A simple verb is the most commonly used word in some areas while the most offensive in others. It would be wise to talk to a local or someone who has visited the country to know what phrases and words to avoid. Moises is right, you may be trying to compliment someone when in fact you would offend them with a regional term. Good Luck!

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December 18, 2008 01:20 PM
¿Habla usted ingles? - Do you speak English? (just in case you don't learn more than 3 phrases

¿Como se llama usted? Me llamo ______. - What is your name? My name is ____

¿Cuanto cuesta este? - How much does this cost?
Source(s):
years of taking Spanish in HIgh School


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