How do you say hello in Spanish? Hola, ¿cómo estás? That’s the phrase all books for learning Spanish teach us and that’s because it’s the most common greeting in Spanish.
Now, if you visit or move to Argentina you will notice that natives greet each other in so many different ways.
For example, one way to say ‘cómo estás’ in Argentina is “¿Qué hacés, che?” And the reply to that can be “Todo bien, ¿y vos?”.
In this blog post we’ll dive into the most common Spanish greetings in Argentina.
How Do You Say Hello in Spanish Like an Argentinian?
One of my favorite Argentinian greetings is ¿Qué hacés, che? This is very informal and what it means is literally “Hey, what are you doing?”.
Remember “che” is the Argentine way of saying “hey”, you can learn more about it in this blog post.
Setting aside the literal meaning of “qué hacés che”, you have to understand that this phrase is actually used like “Hey what’s up?”. So, this is a phrase that you can use with friends and family.
Although, here’s a fun fact: Argentinians are extremely informal and tend to greet everyone like this, even strangers.
How Do You Say Hello in Spanish Slang?
One of the best greetings in the Spanish speaking world is “¿Qué onda?”.
This extremely informal salutation never appears in books for learning Spanish. It is mostly used with friends since it’s similar to the English “What’s up?”
The answer to “¿Qué onda?” can be “Todo bien, ¿y vos?” or even “¿Qué hacés, che?”
Now, if you are greeting a friend that you haven’t seen for a long time, you can say “¿Qué onda? Tanto tiempo,” which means “What’s up? Long time no see”.
How to Say Hi in Spanish Other Than Hola?
You’ve probably heard the greetings buenos días, buenas tardes, and buenas noches before.
If you are one of those people who confuses them, I hear you. And let me be honest with you: natives confuse them all the time. ¡Siempre! However, we came up with a solution to this.
Did you know you can just say “buenas”? That’s right, a simple buenas is enough and can be said at any time of day. There’s no way to get it wrong!
Actually, it’s pretty common for Argentines to greet someone in Spanish with a “buenas”.
Mind this! ¡Importante! You have to add rhythm to it and say bueeenas, stressing the first syllable. Because if you just say ‘buenas’ it doesn’t sound very friendly.
What’s a Common Way to Say How Are You in Spanish?
Another informal greeting that argentinians use frequently is “¿Todo tranqui?”
Tranqui is the short version of “tranquilo” which means ‘quiet’ or ‘cool’ in English.
If everything is cool, then everything’s fine. The phrase ¿Todo tranqui? can be translated as “Everything okay/alright?”
Common answers to this question include: Sí, todo tranqui, ¿y vos? or Sí, todo bien, ¿vos?
How Do You Say Hello Guys in Spanish?
In Argentina you will hear phrases like:
- “Hola, gente”,
- “¿Qué onda, gente?”,
- “¿Qué hacen, gente?”,
- “¿Todo bien, gente?”.
The word “gente” means “people.” Best part of this word is that this is a gender neutral noun, so you are safe to say it to any group of individuals.
Conclusion
To sum up, here are some useful phrases in case you were wondering how do you say hello in Spanish other than hola:
- ¿Qué hacés, che?
- ¿Qué onda?
- ¿Qué onda? ¡Tanto tiempo!
- Buenas.
- ¿Todo tranqui?
- Hola, gente.
- ¿Qué hacen, gente?
- ¿Todo bien, gente?