Do you know how to introduce yourself in Spanish? With just a few key words and phrases, you can feel comfortable doing so in no time!

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Elements of Introducing Yourself in Spanish

We can break up introducing yourself in Spanish into a few key categories that correspond to how we would introduce ourselves in English. Let's take a look:

Greeting

Like in English, you would often begin introducing yourself in Spanish by saying hello to the person:

¡Hola!

Hello!

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This might stand alone or go with some other very common greetings in Spanish: 

¡Buenos días!

Good morning!

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Note that in some countries, like Argentina, it is more common to hear the singular version, Buen día. If it's later in the day (from about noon to sunset), you'd more likely hear Buenas tardes (Good afternoon/evening):

Buenas tardes.

Good afternoon.

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And later than that, you might hear Buenas noches (literally "good night"). Note that in contrast to "Good night" in English, Buenas noches can be used as a greeting rather than just to send someone off to bed or say goodbye. That said, "Good evening" might be a more appropriate translation in that context. 

Muy buenas noches, bienvenida. -Hola, buenas noches.

Good evening, welcome. -Hello, good evening.

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Asking the Other Person How They Are

Again as in English, when introducing yourself in Spanish, it is common to ask the person with whom you are speaking how they are. As there are many ways to do this, we'll give you a just a few options.

¿Cómo está usted?

How are you?

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Of course, because there are several ways to say "you" in Spanish (usted is the singular, more formal form), this phrase might be adjusted to "¿Cómo estás tú?" or "¿Cómo estás vos?" to address one person informally. And while there are additional ways to say "you" to more than one person in Spanish, for the purposes of today's lesson, we will stick to the singular forms. Let's see another way to say "How are you?"

¿Y cómo te va?

And how are you?

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The more formal alternative with usted would be: "¿Y cómo le va (a usted)?" However, regardless of the formality of the situation or to how many people you are speaking, you can always use the following simple phrase:

Answering How You Are

As the person to whom you are speaking will most likely respond by asking you how you are, we should give you some common answers to the aforementioned questions. Let's start with an answer to "¿Cómo está(s)?" 

If you are addressing one another with usted, you would instead say "¿y usted?" 

In contrast, if someone asks you '¿Cómo te/le va?" you might answer: "Bien, ¿y a ti?" or "Bien, ¿y a usted?" 

Although bien (well) or muy bien (very well) are by far the most common ways to answer the question of how you are, particularly when meeting someone for the first time, if you are interested in learning more about ways to say you are just OK, we recommend this lesson entitled ¿Qué tal? Ni bien ni mal (How Are You? Neither Good Nor Bad).

Saying your name

Now that we have gotten some formalities out of the way, it's time to say your name! Here are three common ways to do so:

Yo me llamo Lida.

My name is Lida.

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Mi nombre es Diego Velázquez.

My name is Diego Velázquez.

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Hola, yo soy Cleer.

Hello, I'm Cleer.

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Asking the other person's name

And now, the moment has arrived to ask the other person their name:

¿Y cómo te llamas tú?

And, what's your name?

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¿Cuál es tu nombre?

What's your name?

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The usted form is: "¿Cuál es su nombre?"

Saying "Nice to meet you"

When introducing yourself in Spanish, as in English, you should probably say something along the lines of "Nice to meet you." Here are several options:

Mucho gusto, Samuel.

Nice to meet you, Samuel.

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Un placer, Mónica,

A pleasure, Monica,

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Hola, guapa. -Hola. -Encantada. -Encantada de conocerte.

Hello, beautiful. -Hello. -[A] pleasure. -[A] pleasure to meet you.

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And, if someone says one of those things to you, you might respond by saying "Igualmente" or "Yo también" (Me too). 

Hola Cristóbal, encantada. -Igualmente.

Hello, Cristobal. Pleased [to meet you]. -Me too.

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If you'd like to hear many of these phrases in the context of both informal and formal conversations, we recommend the video Saludar en español (Greeting in Spanish). We hope you have enjoyed this lesson on how to introduce yourself in Spanish, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. 

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Have you ever found yourself in a foreign country and needing to do some banking other than just using an ATM? Here's a useful list of Spanish banking vocabulary.
 
The Spanish word for "bank" is banco. Occasionally, you may hear people using the expressions institución bancaria (banking institution) or entidad bancaria (banking entity) as well, but these two are more commonly used in written documents:
 

Las condiciones, mm... no se las acepta, eh... o no se las concede la entidad bancaria.

The conditions, mm... are not accepted, um... or are not granted by the banking entity.

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Note that in Spanish el banco (the bank) is not the same as la banca (banking), a feminine noun you can hear or read quite often if you follow Spanish-speaking world news. Here’s an example:
 
El candidato a la presidencia de México afirmó que "la banca es uno de los mejores negocios del país".
The candidate for the presidency of Mexico affirmed that "banking is one of the best businesses in the country."
 
In Spanish the acronym ATM is rarely used. Instead, Spanish speakers use the expression cajero automático (automatic cashier), which is frequently shortened to cajero.
 

¡Oh! ¿Dónde está el cajero automático?

Oh! Where's the ATM?

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As in English, the word cajero or cajera (cashier) is also used to refer to the person who handles the caja (cash register, literally "box"). This word can be used anywhere a financial transaction takes place—at stores, banks, entertainment venues, and even zoquitos clubs:
 

Hay días que la caja tiene más zoquitos que euros? -No.

Are there days when the register has more zoquitos than euros? -No.

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Finalmente, debes ir a la caja y pagar lo que quieras comprar.

Finally, you should go to the cash register and pay for whatever you want to buy.

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In Spanish as in English, if a cash register is located behind a glass wall or a small window, you may call it ventanilla (window); hence the use of expressions such as pague en ventanilla (pay at the window) or pase a ventanilla 8 (go to window 8). In movie theaters, for example, you may hear people say ventanilla instead of taquilla (box office) quite often. Of course, sometimes a ventanilla is just a window:
 

¿Y quiere asiento de ventanilla o de pasillo?

And do you want a window or aisle seat?

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The word depósito means "deposit," and depositar means "to make a deposit." Some useful expressions are: quiero hacer un depósito or quiero depositar (I want to make a deposit, I want to deposit). And the same formula applies for transferencia (transfer), giro (wire), and retiro (withdrawal).
 
The word for "currency" is moneda (which also means "coin"):
 

"Zoquitos" es una... una red de moneda local.

"Zoquitos" is a... a network of local currency.

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The word divisa means "foreign currency." To ask for a currency conversion, you can say quiero hacer un cambio de divisas (I want to make a currency exchange). However, for a more colloquial touch, use something like quiero cambiar dólares a pesos (I want to exchange dollars for pesos).
 
To learn more about financial terms, try our series Cuentas claras.

An impersonal statement is one that has no determinate subject. In English you'll hear impersonal expressions like "you shouldn't point your finger at people" or "one would think the airlines would have to close down." 

Spanish has a different way to express the impersonal voice, though. To make general statements Spanish adds the pronoun se in front of verbs. Let's see some examples:

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 In the new episode of Yago - Pasión Morena we hear a distressed Yago stating a very basic and general principle indeed:

No se mata lo que se ama.

You don't kill what you love.

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Of course, to express this idea in Spanish you can also do as in English and simply conjugate the verb in the second person:

No matas lo que amas.
You don't kill what you love.

However, in Spanish the use of se is much more common, expressive and emphatic.

Actually, in Spanish it's also possible to use the word uno (one) instead. In this case you must use the third person:

Uno no mata lo que ama.
One shouldn't kill what ones loves.

Here are another two examples from our catalog, both using the verb decir (to say):
 

Bueno y se dice que la mujer tiene un sexto sentido

Well, and one says that a woman has a sixth sense

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Bananas, o ¿cómo se dice en España?

Bananas, or how do you say it in Spain?

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And then with the verb hacer (to do, to make):

...s' se hace como un... té.

...o' one makes like a... tea.

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Take note, both the Spanish impersonal and singular passive voice use the same construction. You can clearly see it by comparing the above example with the following one using the same verb hacer (to do, to make):
 

¿Esto se hace en otros puntos de... de Europa?

Is this done in other parts of... of Europe?

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Luckily, being able to make this distinction is really not that relevant because the difference is mostly just grammatical. For example, for practical purposes, you could also interpret this example as a case of the impersonal and translate it as, "Do you do this in other parts of... of Europe?"

Finally, note that Spanish also uses the plural to express impersonal ideas. In this case, however, you don't need to use the pronoun se, you only use the third-person plural ellos (they).
 

Y el futuro que vendrá, dicen que pende de un hilo

And the future that will come, they say that it hangs by a thread

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The beautiful thing about the Spanish plural impersonal is that it doesn't use the pronoun ellos (they)—just the verb conjugated in the third-person plural dicen (they say). In fact, in Spanish it can't be impersonal at all if you include the pronoun, if you actually say ellos dicen (they say). If the same example were to include the pronoun ellos (them), then it would mean that the subject is actually known from context. Check out the modified version of the previous example to which we added one of many possible contexts in brackets:

[Los dioses llegaron en sus naves blandas.] Y el futuro que vendrá, dicen ellos que pende de un hilo.
[The gods arrived in their soft vessels.] And the future that will come, they say that it hangs by a thread.

The plural impersonal is used a lot to spread gossip when combined with the verbs decir (to say), contar (to tell), etc.
 

Dicen que nadie puede seguirte el tren

They say nobody can keep up with you

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Or popular knowledge:

Dicen que si los sueños se cuentan

They say that if you tell your dreams,

después no se cumplen, loco.

then they won't come true, dude.

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