Hello, there, and welcome to this post about how to say How are you in Spanish. In order to learn this, we have to know that Spanish is spoken in 22 countries around the world, so, there are many ways to say this very common sentence. Let’s get started and see a few of them!
Regular and Slang How are you in Spanish
Firstly, we will see how to say How are you in Spanish in a regular way:
¿Cómo estás? (How are you?) or a formal option, if you’re talking to a “Usted” (the formal “You” in Spanish: older people, your boss, etc.) is “¿Cómo está?”. This is the same way used for asking about someone else: “¿Cómo está Juan?” or “¿Cómo está Carla?”. If you are talking to more than one person, so you will need the plural: “¿Cómo están?”, either if you are talking directly to more than one person or if you are asking about more than one person to someone else: “¿Cómo están ellos / ellas / tus hijos?”.
Okay, now we will study how to say How are you in Spanish as a native. This is not because we never say “¿Cómo estás?”, but it really sounds like the more common way to say it, and as you know, people don’t speak (at least not all the time) like the Spanish books you study in High School.
How to say how are you in Spanish with slang
These are the options you have to say How are you in Spanish without saying “¿Cómo estás?”:
Argentina: ¿Cómo andás? (How is it going?); ¿Qué onda? (What’s up?); ¿Todo bien? (Is everything alright?); ¿Cómo te va? (How is it going?): ¿Qué tal?
Colombia: ¿Qué más? (What else?) or ¿Qué más pues? (So what else?); ¿Todo bien?; ¿Bien o qué? (Fine or what?); ¿Bien o no? (Fine or not fine?); ¿Qué hubo pues? (So what happened?). The pronunciation is more like “¿Q’hubo pues? ¿Quí hubo pues?
Mexico: ¿Qué onda?; ¿Qué pedo? / ¿Qué pez?); ¿Qué hay? (What’s up?); ¿Qué pasó? (What happened?); ¿Qué Pachuca por Toluca? (Another version of the previous one).
Let’s pretend a dialogue to practice. Let’s imagine you are in one of these countries and someone comes and say Hi:
Someone: ¡Hola! ¿Como estás?
You: ¿Bien y tú? ¿Qué onda?
Someone else: ¿Qué pedo con Juan? Hace mucho que no lo veo
You: Creo que está bien, no sé.
Someone: ¿Y ustedes qué tal? ¿Andan bien?
You and Someone else: Sí, nos va de maravilla.
Someone else to Someone: ¿Y tú qué pedo? ¿Qué te cuentas?
Someone: Estoy chévere, la verdad.
You can also check this post: Top Ten Basic Spanish Words. And, of course, contact us today and book a trial lesson. You can have the class with a Native Speaker of any country in Latin America you choose. Don’t hesitate and start today this journey! See you soon!
