Lesson Introduction
What's up? How's it going? What's shakin'? We have so many ways casual ways to greet each other in English. This lesson is all about how we greet our friends casually in Spanish. Liliana tells us how common it is for Spanish speakers throw in a compliment; for example, "hello, beautiful!" We all deserve to hear "hello, beautiful!" every now and then, don't we?
Comments (167) 
Not sure if your comment is appropriate Check our Commenting Policy first.
New lesson idea? Please let us know on our contact page.






khin Spanish Keyboard
If you are using Windows, this link will tell you how to add a Spanish keyboard and switch between English and Spanish. http://faculty.weber.edu/tmathews/grammar/Compmark.html
I think it has some errors on the actual keyboard layout but the link below (which must be viewed with Internet Explorer) has the layout. I use ”[“ + vowel to get an vowel with an accent. If you use the link below, mouse over the “shift”, and “altGr” keys to see how they affect the layout. http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/keyboards/kbdsp.htm
Cobre,
yo tengo window vista. espero tu me puede ayudarme como usar key board en spanish.
Hola khin,
Yo tengo Windows xphome y Ubuntu y quiero comprar una computadora del Apple, pero no tengo dinero por esto hoy.
Amherst college has a page for setting up keyboards in Vista:
They also have a novel suggestion, especially if you use multiple European languages and want to use the same keyboard layout all the time.
Set up the Us international layout and then all the keys will be the same all the time for you.
Click on the sentence above to go to their page of directions.
Hola Cobre,
buenos dias, mil gracias por su dirección para gangar la "us international keyboard"
me alegro mucho mucho mas!
Holas, Kikuyu, cobre, y Stevestrv
me alegro les digo que estoy muchisimos agradable ahora. Sin sus ayudas no lo sé comó escribir español correcto.
ustedes son muy amamble. me alegro a hacer conversación con ustedes.
De nuevo, muchisimas gracias!!
very nice i searched for learning but i cann't find a realy good site but now i am realy happy and i hope to learn it easy .hola muchas gracias to learn spanish with this quality . merci pour cette site car c est tres tres bon d'apprendre diffferent langue , je suis tres content maintent .
mikebaher_2010,
Je vous en prie! :)
hey guys, i know very little to no spanish at all, does anyone have any recommendations for where to start?
itank
The Newbei and Elementary lessons on Spanishpod are excellent. In addition, there is a thread on this blog where people write about learning resources that the found helpful. Here is a link. http://spanishpod.com/community/conversations/post/339. I really like Learning Spanish Like Crazy but it is a little expensive. Pimsleur has taps and CD and are available in a lot of Libraries.
I am going to tell you a secret. As I said I like Learning Spanish Like Crazy (LSLC) but it is not cheap. You can join audible.com for a trail period of three months for $7.50 a month. You can buy audio book form them but you will also get I credit per month. You can then buy LSLC level 1 for one credit. Next month buy Level two. You will not get the transcripts, which are not that important or any extras but it is an incredible deal. Be careful not to get the LSLC FSI course, which is also good but I think you will love the LSLC levels 1 and 2.
I have a question. Is it appropriate to use "guapa" or "hermosa" when you're dealing with a clerk at a store or cafe or would that be too flirty?
I'm thinking of people my own age.
Also, is there an age limit to where that's appropriate? I know sometimes it's fun in the US to flirt with older women, but would that not be correct in this context?
And how young is this appropriate? I certainly don't want to call a young girl beautiful if it's inappropriate. Are there similar words for dealing with young children in an informal way?
Mucho gracias!
Mauricereeves
It depends on where you are. Check out this Pa’ Que
Sepas. -- Pa´que sepas... - Vocab, vocab, vocab!
Mi amiga en la Argentina dice que no utilizan "guapa" como hacen en México.
My friend in Argentina says they do not use "guapa" like they do in Mexico
Maybe more culturally used in Mexico?
stevestrv Mucho gracias!
The Pa'que sepas episode was a help but it didn't answer all my questions. Thank you again for the link though! I really appreciate it.
Mauricereeves
gracias is the plural of gracia or grace and is feminine which changes to mucho "o" to an "a" soooo . . .
muchas gracias
de nada
some other meanings for gracia
gracia sustantivo femenino
maurice reeves
Good question, fingers crossed it might end up on pa que sepas again. Ive wondered about flirting with older women (in spanish). its something I pretty much do withgout thinking although these days im actually getting old enough to be taken seriously. would a spanish abuela giggle coquetishly if you said
su hija?? seguramente no, yo había imaginado que fueran ustedes hermanas.
or just shake her head at the halfwitted foreigner.
or perhaps just laugh at your grammar (help anyone)
Mauricereeves Donperigo
Check out this link:
How can I tell a beautiful Latin woman how beautiful she is in Spanish?
Hey guys,
This is an excerpt from the Del Taco al Tango on Machismo -- sorry about the mistakes; it's not Spanishpod, just my own attempt.
L: Bueno. Otra cosa nos así pasa en España también en México, creo que sí, es la manera que los hombres tratan a las mujeres que trabajan en los servicios, por ejemplo, en el banco o en una tienda que no la conocen y le dicen “Hola corazón,” “Hola reina,” “Muñeca.” Ok something else that happens to us both in Spain and Mexico I think is the way men treat women who work in service occupations, for example, in the bank or in a store, a woman they don't know and they say to her "Hello my heart," "Hello queen," "Doll."
Lo odio. I hate it.
Sí. Yes
Lo detesto y están...I detest it and they are...
Sí, es totalmente cultural eso también. Yes that's also completely cultural.
E: Sí, pasa lo mismo en España. Yes, the same thing happens in Spain.
¿Sí? Yes.
“Chiquita,” “Mi amor,” “Cosita,” “Corazón.” Girl, my love, little thing, heart...
Es de muy, muy, muy mal gusto, de verdad. Porque imagínate que nosotros a un camarero o a un mesero le digamos, “Ay, chulo, guapo, bonito.” Oye, pésimo. It's really in very, very, very bad taste. I mean imagine if we said to a waiter: Hey cutie, handsome, good-looking...
Sí, de maleducación. Yes, very rude.
Sí, pero en un hombre es como percibido como normal. Yes, but for a man it's perceived as normal.
Porque es el macho, no, entonces él como que tiene ese derecho a llamarte así. Because he's the macho, right, then he has the right to address you like that.
Mmmhmm.
“!Oye, conejita!” Hey, little bunny!
¿Perdona? Pardon me?
T: Eso no lo he oído. I haven't heard that one.
E: Ni yo tampoco, conejita! Me either, little bunny!
Yo soy “Bugs Bunny” o ¿que te pasa? What am I, Bugs Bunny, or what?
Anyway, from what the ladies are saying here, talking to women like this is seen as, well, kind of, shall we say uncouth?
strange isnt it? my older ladies love it and they are far and away the prolific users of "patronising" terms like pet love and sweetie. I dont know any men who would dare be that intimate with strangers although i believe its more prevalent upt north.
I remember when that DTAT came out thinking i should look up conejita . according to harraps pardon my spanish english spanish slang dictionary. conejita is somewhat more vulgar than the literal translation of little bunny in the same way that the literal translation of gatita into english means more than a small cat.
anna8,
Thanks for the translation! Much appreciated. That does make things clear. I didn't think it was appropriate, but different cultures, etc etc.
cobre, thanks for the correction! I'm still very new to this, so help like that is always appreciated. :)
A good site!
:)
Que tal?
I'm Jesnut...
You know it's cool to learn spanish!!!
This a cool site,GRACIAS!!!
Jesnut!
¡Hola! Como estas! Bienvenido a SpanishPod.
¿De dónde eres?
This is a great site!
By the end of this month I attempt to speak and read spanish as well as lili!!
haha.
what a great dream*
azreencomel
azreencomel
You can do it! Estudia, estudia!
Saludos
did all of you guys buy this program? its expensive. I thought it was free at first, but then i found out that it has a limited trial. but its awesome i just don't know if i want to spend 300+ on it
Dear tmannhicks
Welcome to SpanishPod!
It´s true now it´s paid subcription after the 7 days free trial expires.
You can get more information on:
http://spanishpod.com/help/subscription#1
There are some subscription for as little as 9 USD a month. Hope you join :)
Let us know if u have any ideas for lessons!
tmannhicks,
you can get a basic subscription for $5 per month.
ok thanks you guys. are you guys anywhere near fluent yet, with this site?
tmannhicks,
This site is awesome. Are we fluent yet? I'm not fluent yet but I can definitely get by. Just keep listening to these lessons and you will be amazed how fast your listening skills will improve.
kikuyu question, I haven't brought the program "yet" but i've copied and pasted my url to the itunes, and when i go to play it, it doesn't play. Do you have to purchase first, before you can play the podcasts on your ipod?
tmannhicks,
the newbie lessons are free, so until you purchase a subscription, those are the only ones that you will be able to download.
go to itunes store, select podcasts, select education, you'll see the spanishpod icon, select it and then select subscribe free and then all of the free newbie lessons will be downloaded. You won't get the other lesson levels until you pay for a subscription.
tmannhicks & kikuyu: just for clarification: within the 7-day trial period you should be able to use the personal feed on itunes and your ipod for free.
And it is true, a basic subscription for a year for $69 is very affordable. I've spent a lot more on books and CDs, which were far less engaging than SpanishPod. (You live, you learn. :).
tmannhicks & martinillo,
tmannhicks, sorry for giving you the wrong information about the free downloads. Hope you were able to figure it out and that you are already listening on your ipod:)
martinillo, Thanks for letting us know.
Thanks guys. Im having a problem though. When i go to itunes, and i search for spanishpod, i find all the newbie lessons and other stuff. I can put thoughs on my ipod. But when you go to the website, and you click lessons, how do you get all thoughs elementary, intermediate, and advance lessons onto itunes? when i copy and paste my url it comes up as tmannhicks, but thats it, i can't click on it to listen to anything.
it also says "There are no playable episodes for 'Spanishpod-tmannhicks." " The url might point to text-only episodes, or contain file types that itunes cannot play."
tmannhicks,
I don't know, I'm not a tech person. If you scroll to the bottom of this page and select "contact us" and submit your question someone on the tech team at spanishpod will help you sort it out.
tmannhicks
I am not sure if tried the following but just incase, here is my suggestion.
If you have either a 7 day free subscription or a paid subscription you can use iTunes to download all the lessons. Logon to the Spanishpod website, and click the “My Lessons” link under “Me” in the lower left hand side of the page. On the right and side of the new page you will see a box with the title “My Personal RSS Lesson Feed”. You will use the RSS feed there which will begin “http://spanishpod.com” in iTunes. To setup your RSS feed and see directions on how to load the feed into iTunes, click the “Settings & Help” button.
The truth is I think you can down load back lessons with a 7 day free subscription but I am not 100% sure.
one more question. if I subscribe to the basic, do i still get this same access to the site as i do now. be it doesn't say that you have full access to the web, with the basic.
tmannhicks
With a basic membership, you still will have access to the SpanishPod blog, that is to say, you will be able to post and read comments.
If you look at the chart:
The 4 things listed for premium access will not work, they are on this page.
With the Basic,
You get the PDF lesson summary, the lessons, the video lessons, the RSS feed to make iTunes automatically download the lessons you have paid for, access to the forums and groups to ask questions.
Ok muchas gracias Cobre and the other guys. Im so thankful you guys are so helpful and patient with the new people. Other sites, they often don't respond if a person seems a bit "slow" lol. thanks you guys, i will most definitely be purchasing this program.
seeya
thanks guys
En la sección de expansión:
Me cae bien.
Por favor, explique cómo esta oración significa "I like her."
Jeraldina
If you want to say “I like her” you might be tempted to say “me gusta ella”
And I think that that would work find in Spain. But in most of Latin America, that would imply that you are sexually attracted to her. A much safer way to say that you like someone is to use the verb caer – to fall. So in Spanish you could say
Me cae bien. - I like her/him/usted
Me Caen muy bien – I like them very much.
¿Te cae bien Juan? – Do you like Juan?
So think of “me cae bien” as "she falls well to me". That is how they say “I like her”.
BTW there was a Pa’ Que Sepas on this subject but I do not remember when.
Also see LoMasTV
Stevestr
Gracias otra vez por ayudarme. Hay tanto que aprender.
buena leccion, y gracias a stevestre y Jeraldina por ayudarme aprender "me gusta ella" y "Me cae muy bien"
I have been using guapa with my Spanish female friends, and they love it.
deedeewarren
Claro que les gusta! Of course they love it! It´s nice to compliment girls! Now I have to write one complementing men!...
Hola guapo! or maybe Hola guapísimo!