Ch 25 · Lesson 22Spanish · Chapter 25 · Lesson 22 · Themed review

Los saludos

Saying hello is physical in Spanish: one kiss or two, a handshake or a hug, and or . The words you have; this is how they are used.

Practise this lesson

18-word session

A quick mix of exercises - recognise, recall, type and build each word. Miss one and it comes back round until it sticks.

Worth knowing

One kiss or two, tú or usted: saying hello is half the culture

You have known since chapter 2. What you did not get with it is the body language, and in Spanish-speaking countries the greeting is physical. Get it right and nobody notices. Get it wrong and everybody does, kindly.

The kiss on the cheek

here is not a kiss on the lips. It is cheek against cheek, often with a small kissing sound in the air.

Where	Between friends and new people	Between two men
Spain	, one on each cheek	usually , a handshake; a hug among family and close friends
Mexico and most of Latin America	, one cheek only	usually , or a handshake and a pat on the back
and Uruguay	, one cheek	often too, between friends and family
A business meeting, anywhere

Two practical tips. Lead with your own right cheek and you will rarely bump noses. And when in doubt, offer your hand: a handshake is never an insult, and the other person will turn it into a kiss if that is what they expect.

tú or usted

The rules are not the same everywhere, which is why the course leaves the full picture to chapter 41. The short version:

Where	The default
Spain	with almost everyone your own age, colleagues and shop staff; for much older people and formal situations
Mexico	more often than in Spain: with older people, in shops, with anyone you do not know
Colombia	far more than elsewhere: in some regions even between friends and inside the family, though is common on the coast
and Uruguay	instead of , and for respect

If you are unsure, start with . If the other person would rather you used , they will say so, and that is a small, friendly moment, not a correction.

don, and its feminine

before a first name, as in Tomás, is respect with warmth: an older neighbour, the owner of the corner shop. Its feminine form works the same way for a woman. It goes with the first name (or the full name), never the surname on its own.

Small courtesies

In Spain, people say or just to the whole room when they walk into a lift or a waiting room.
is the ordinary goodbye, even to someone you will never see again.
Con (excuse me, coming through) and get you past people and out of a crowded bus.

What do the colours mean?