How to introduce yourself in Spanish?

How to say goodbye in Spanish: Las despedidas

To say goodbye, which is called “Las despedidas”, we have also formal and informal ways to say them.

Often the greetings “buenos días”, “buenas tardes” and “buenas noches” are also used to say goodbye as they can be appropriate in several contexts such as when kids go to bed at night or when we finish a conversation on the phone.

However, the most common way of saying goodbye is “adiós” and it can be used either in formal or informal contexts although we can also say “¡hasta pronto!” or “¡adiós!, ¡hasta pronto!”. If the conversation is very formal we can also say “saludos” or “un saludo”, which is something used commonly in written Spanish when saying goodbye in a formal letter or email.

Furthermore, the word "hasta" plus a word that indicates time is often used. We can say “¡hasta pronto!” (see you soon!), “¡hasta mañana!” (see you tomorrow!), “¡hasta luego!” (see you later!), “¡hasta la semana que viene!” (see you next week!) or even “¡hasta nunca!”, which literally means “see you never!” and it’s used if we want to end a bad conversation. We can also say “¡hasta la vista!” just like  The Terminator did at the end of the movie Terminator 2.

The English expression “take care!” has also an equivalent in Spanish, which is “¡Cuídate!”, but it's normally used in informal conversations.

Have a look at the blackboard and memorise all these expressions to use them in the future:
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Introductions in Spanish: Las Presentaciones

There are two different ways to introduce yourself to others, formally and informally, and we use one or the other depending on the situation. In an interview for instance we would always introduce ourselves in a formal way whereas we use the informal way when meeting new friends for example.

This is quite simple, however, in Spanish we need to be aware of the fact that the verb changes depending on the formality spoken, that is to say, if we speak with someone in an informal way the verb is different compared to when speaking formally. We used the formal form “usted” with the verb in third person singular whereas in informal speech we need to use the form “tú” with the verb in second person singular.

For instance, if we need to ask “what is your name?” in a formal way we need to say “¿cómo se llama?” whereas informally would be “¿cómo te llamas?”. To answer that question informally we can say “me llamo John/Jane Smith” or use the formal form Mr/Mrs/Miss Smith (señor, señora y señorita). We can also say “I’m John” or “I’m Jane” which in Spanish would be “Soy John” or “Soy Jane”. Notice that the personal pronoun “Yo” (I) is not said as we know who is the person that we are talking about by conjugating the verb, which will be a topic in another post.

Then, the reply should be “nice to meet you” which in Spanish can be “encantado” when the person who answers is a man or “encantada” when that person is a woman. However, there are ways to say “nice to meet you” without having this issue, for instance we can just say “mucho gusto” or “es un placer”. The other person will respond with “igualmente” or “el gusto es mío”.

Another thing to consider is the cultural side of an introduction. If the introductions are done formally people normally shake hands but if the introduction is informal people usually kiss each other on both cheeks.

Have a look at the following blackboard to get used to both ways of introducing yourself to others in Spanish as it clarifies a bit better all that has been said:
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