Everything the first two minutes of a conversation in Spanish asks of you: greeting someone by the hour of the day, giving your name, saying how you are and where you are from, choosing tú or usted, and leaving politely — with the letters, sounds and marks that make Spanish look and sound different from English. Study Cards drill the words, Helpful Hints hold the charts and the traps, the Practice Quiz asks in three tiers, and the Workshop puts a first conversation in order, sorts fourteen people into tú and usted, labels a day of greetings and asks you to defend one choice in writing.
A hallway. A friend your age on one side, an adult you do not know on the other. You are about to greet both.
That choice has a name: register. Register is how close or how formal your words are. Spanish puts it in the first word you say — tú for people you are close to or equal with, usted for adults you do not know and for people in charge.
Four things people get wrong
⚠️People often think…
Usted is the polite word you add at the end.
The word is only half of it. The verb changes too. ¿Cómo estás? becomes ¿Cómo está usted?, and ¿Cómo te llamas? becomes ¿Cómo se llama usted?
Change the verb, not only the word.
⚠️People often think…
It is buenos días, buenos tardes and buenos noches.
Día is a masculine word, so it takes buenos. Tarde and noche are feminine, so they take buenas. Buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches.
Días takes buenos. Tardes and noches take buenas.
⚠️People often think…
Usted is for old people.
Age is not the test. A clerk of twenty you have never met takes usted. Your seven-year-old brother takes tú. The test is how close you are, and who is in charge.
Not age — closeness, and who is in charge.
⚠️People often think…
The ¿ at the front of a question is optional.
A written Spanish question needs both marks: ¿ at the front and ? at the end. The first one tells the reader what is coming before a single word is read, so leaving it off is a spelling error, not a style choice.
Two marks, or the question is misspelled.
Who gets usted, and what you say first
1Watch one
It is 9 a.m. You are meeting the new school nurse. Tú or usted?
She is an adult, not a classmate.
You have never met her before.
Not close, not equal — so not tú.
Usted. Say ¿Cómo está usted?, not ¿Cómo estás?
2Do one with me
It is 9 a.m. A new student your own age is standing at your locker.
The greeting at 9 a.m. is
To ask a classmate their name: ¿Cómo
You give your own name back:
💬One sentence, then you move on
Why does the person in front of you change the words you use?
3Try one
A new principal, at 9 a.m. Write the greeting you say first.
I want a hint first
From waking until about midday, the greeting is buenos días. Día is masculine, so it takes buenos.
💬Last one — then you’re done here
You are not sure whether a person takes tú or usted. Which one do you pick, and why?
Where this goes
Where this lives
Meeting a classmate’s grandmother at the door, or a family at a school event. You choose tú or usted before the first word, and that choice is the first thing they hear.
What this feeds
Next unit is Numbers, Time and Dates — the hour decides which greeting you use.
Name one adult you spoke to this week who would take usted, and say why.
One card at a time — tap “Show me” to check yourself, then Next. Start at Foundation; when those feel easy, climb.
Helpful Hints
🧭 The unit in one line
Greet by the hour → give your name → ask the name back → say how you are → say where you are from → choose tú or usted → say please and thank you → leave with hasta luego. The sounds and the marks (ñ, ll, rr, silent h, ¿ ¡, the accent) are the tools you need to read every one of those words out loud.
Hola · Me llamo · ¿Y tú? · Soy de · Hasta luego.
🤝 The one idea
In Spanish you choose your words for the person in front of you. The clock chooses the greeting; the person chooses tú or usted. Say the word, then hand the question back — ¿Y tú? — and the conversation keeps going.
⚠️ Traps to avoid
Buenos días, but buenas tardes and buenas noches. Día is a masculine word; tarde and noche are feminine. The ending has to match.
¿Cómo estás? is the tú question. To an adult you have just met, say ¿Cómo está usted? Learn the two forms together, never a week apart.
The h is silent in every Spanish word. Hola is OH-lah, not HOH-lah. Do not drop the letter when you write, and do not say it when you read.
B and v sound the same as each other in Spanish. Hearing a word will not tell you which one to write; you have to learn the spelling.
Ñ is a letter, not an n wearing a hat. Año means “year”; ano is a different word. The little wave changes the word.
A written Spanish question needs two marks: ¿ at the front and ? at the end. Same for ¡ and ! Leaving off the first one is a spelling error, not a style choice.
The accent mark is not decoration. Sí is “yes” and si is “if”; tú is “you” and tu is “your”; cómo is “how” and como is “as, like”.
📐 The same question, two ways — the chart
What you want to ask
With tú — a friend, a classmate, a child
With usted — an adult you do not know, someone in charge
What is your name?
¿Cómo te llamas?
¿Cómo se llama usted?
How are you?
¿Cómo estás?
¿Cómo está usted?
Where are you from?
¿De dónde eres?
¿De dónde es usted?
And you?
¿Y tú?
¿Y usted?
Word for “you”
tú
usted
🔊 Sounds that surprise an English reader
Letter
Sound
In a word you know
a
ah, as in father — always
hasta (AHS-tah)
e
eh, as in bed — always
me llamo (meh YAH-moh)
i
ee, as in see — always
días (DEE-ahs)
o
oh, as in go — always
hola (OH-lah)
u
oo, as in food — always
usted (oos-TEHD)
h
silent, with no exceptions
hola, hasta
j
a strong sound from the back of the throat
Juan, jugo
ñ
ny, as in canyon
mañana, año
ll
in most places, like the y in yes
me llamo, ella
rr
a rolled r — the tongue taps fast
perro (a dog), not pero (but)
🎯 How you will be asked
“It is 9:00 in the morning. What do you say?” — the clock picks the greeting.
“Tú or usted?” with a person named — a classmate, a nurse, the principal.
A short conversation with the lines scrambled: put them back in order.
A sentence with a mistake in it — find it and fix it (¿Cómo estás? said to a doctor; a missing ¿; a missing accent).
“Read this word out loud” — usually one with h, ll, ñ or rr in it.
✅ Before the test, can you…
Give the right greeting for 8 a.m., 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.?
Ask a name, give yours, and hand the question back — in Spanish, out loud?
Say the tú form and the usted form of the same question, one after the other?
Name three people at school you would address as usted, and say why?
Read hola, mañana, me llamo and perro out loud with the right sounds?
Write a Spanish question with both marks and every accent in place?
📚 Go to the sources
Hear the words, then look them up. These open another website and need the internet. On Forvo, type hola or mañana and listen to real speakers from several countries say the same word.
Look back at anything you missed — the hint that appeared is exactly what to reread tonight.
How sure did you feel?
Workshop
Work like someone meeting people in a new language: put a first conversation back in order, sort fourteen people into tú and usted, label a whole day of greetings, then defend one greeting in writing.
Your practice never leaves this device. There is no account and no sign-in. Your work is saved in this browser only, and you can erase it whenever you want.
Your practice record — saved on this device
This is your record of the module on screen — it stays here and goes nowhere. Independent means you got it right on the first tap; supported means you got it after the explain-and-retry, or marked ‘I had it’ on a revealed answer. Both count, and neither is a grade. If your teacher asks, copy the row or show them this screen.
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Level
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Independent
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Supported
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Hints used
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Cards studied
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Lab
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Traps met
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Explained in own words
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Confidence
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The answer key is for a teacher: it prints only from here, for the unit on screen. Print the study packet prints the study pages and a blank quiz — never the answers.