Top 10 most useful Spanish phrases
Spanish is the 4th most spoken language in the world and can give you a lot of benefits in life. It will look amazing on job resumes for employers to know you can communicate with clients, or customers, in a different language. Studies also show that being bilingual, makes your brain more active, which in turn sustains its cognitive abilities for longer. And it can also come in handy when you're traveling to a Spanish-speaking country, or if you are studying in one. It will be a helpful asset to navigate your environment. But not everyone has the time to learn fluent Spanish right before a vacation, or in urgency, so today we are going to be discussing only the 10 most useful phrases in Spanish.
1. ¿Cómo estás?
This is probably the most common phrase you will hear when speaking to a native Spanish speaker, and it would be a nice conversation starter. This phrase means, “How are you?”, and it is a polite way to speak to Spanish speakers whether they’re your client/customer, or a native when traveling to their country. The word “Cómo” in this phrase means how, and
“estás” typically means “you are” in English.
2. ¿Cómo te llamas?/Me llamo…
I put these phrases together in 1 section because they respond to one another. The phrase, “¿Cómo te llamas?”, will be asked by a speaker when asking for your name, and you can respond to that question by saying, “Me llamo…”, this translates to, “My name is…”, in English.
3. Mucho gusto
This phrase is very common when meeting someone for the first time, and you’ll want to remember it to be polite. “Mucho gusto”, means someone is telling you how nice it is to meet you, and it's a polite way to start or end a conversation.
4. ¿Qué hora es?
This phrase is going to be very useful when asking someone what the time is. To break this phrase down, “Qué”, means “what” in this context, and “hora es” will mean the time or hour it is. So in full form, it means, ” What time is it?”.
5. Necesito ayuda
This phrase is going to be useful when asking someone for help. The term means, “I need help”. Since it has an -o at the end of necesito it refers to, “I need help”, but if it had -as at the end, it would be asked as, “Do you need help”.
6. ¿Dónde está…?/Estoy perdido/a
A frightful situation when traveling to a Spanish-speaking country is when you are lost, and need directions. This phrase will alert another Spanish speaker that you are lost and need to know your way. “Estoy perdido/a”, is a phrase you can use when telling someone that you are lost, and you can follow that statement up with the question, ”¿Dónde está…?”, which is asking, “Where is…?” This phrase will guarantee your guidance.
7. ¿Puedes repetirlo?
This phrase is pretty straightforward. When they confuse you with directions or questions, just simply ask them, “¿Puedes repetirlo?”, which means, “Can you repeat that?” in English.
8. ¿Qué recomiendas?
This phrase is when you would like some recommendations on your vacation from a native here, whether it's a restaurant or site. Ask the question, “¿Qué recomiendas?”, which translates to, “What would you recommend?”, in English.
9. ¿Qué te gustaría?/Me gustaría…
This phrase is also responsive. ¿Qué te gustaría?, is when someone asks, or you ask someone, “What would you like?”, and usually they would respond with, “Me gustaria…”, which is saying, “I would like…”, and when this is used for ordering food at a restaurant, it would be, “¿Qué te gustaría comer?” which means, “what would you like to eat”.
10. ¿Hablas inglés?
This final phrase is the most useful out of all of these. Even when speaking all these phrases there will still be some communication gap, so saying, “¿Hablas inglés?”, which means, “Do you speak English?”, can be a lifesaver when you run out of phrases.
That is the conclusion of all the 10 most useful phrases in Spanish. Remember that if you plan to study or get a job in a Spanish-speaking country for the long term, it is better to learn Spanish verbs, nouns, and grammatical rules. Another helpful tip when learning Spanish is, don’t be passive learning all of the time, try to speak Spanish to yourself, or a friend here and there to pick up speed, and get more comfortable in the language, Adiós.
I hope this helped!
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