Spanish greetings: hola, buenos días and adiós

Spanish greetings: hola, buenos días and adiós: what children learn

In the game, children build each greeting from letter tiles, choosing the right accents, as in adiós and mañana. The Quick quiz checks the meaning of common greetings and asks which one fits a situation, such as meeting a neighbor in the afternoon. It also checks a feature that surprises many children: Spanish questions start with an upside-down question mark, as in ¿Qué tal?. Spanish words are marked in the page so that screen readers switch to a Spanish voice. Say each phrase aloud as you play: speaking is the best way to remember it, and Spanish spelling is a reliable guide to how words sound.

Suggested grade 2 practice, selected by skill and reading demand. US states and schools teach these topics in different grades; this is not a state-standards alignment claim. French and Spanish games are grouped by challenge level; learners can begin in any grade.

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards teaching connection: Vocabulary foundations for communication. Recognizing words and building short phrases can prepare a learner for reading and communication. Follow the game with a real exchange or a short text. Word recognition alone does not establish an ACTFL proficiency level or cover all communication modes. Read the framework.

How to play

Build the word from the tiles. Tap a tile to put it in the next gap, or type the letters. Watch out for the accents! Each game has 6 words and no timer. If a letter is wrong, the right ones stay and you get one more try. You get a point for each word built first time. For a quicker go, choose Quick quiz: 10 multiple-choice questions in 150 seconds (choose Relaxed for more time).

Step by step

1. Learn the hello and goodbye pair. Hola (hello; the h is silent) and adiós (goodbye). Use them at home every morning and evening.
2. Add the time of day. Buenos días in the morning, buenas tardes in the afternoon and buenas noches at night.
3. Ask how someone is. ¿Qué tal? Answer muy bien (very well), bien (fine), mal (not well) or fatal (awful).
4. Say your name. Me llamo … means my name is. Ask ¿Cómo te llamas? to find out someone else’s name.
5. Be polite. Por favor is please and gracias is thank you. Finish with hasta luego (see you later) or hasta mañana (see you tomorrow).

Worked examples

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Saying the h in hola. In Spanish the letter h is silent, so hola sounds like “ola”.
• Forgetting the upside-down question mark. Every written Spanish question starts with ¿ and every exclamation starts with ¡.
• Mixing up buenas tardes and buenas noches. Buenas tardes is for the afternoon and early evening; buenas noches is for when it is dark or for going to bed.
• Leaving off accents. Accents matter: adiós and días have them. They show which part of the word to stress.

Activities to try at home

• Greet each other in Spanish every morning for a week: ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?
• Make a feelings scale from fatal to muy bien and point to how you feel each day.
• Act out meeting someone at different times of day and choose the right greeting.
• Print the game sheet and say every answer aloud.

Ideas for the classroom

• Start every lesson with a register in Spanish: students answer the teacher’s greeting and say how they are.
• Play “greeting tag”: students walk around, meet a partner and have a four-line conversation before moving on.
• Display a clock and ask which greeting fits each time.
• Write questions on the board without ¿ and ask students to add the missing marks.

Free printable game and worksheet

The free printable starts with a game sheet, such as a color-by-answer picture, an answer maze or a secret-code joke, followed by a worksheet. Both use the same checked questions as the online game, and the answers are on the last page. Print it, or save it as a PDF from your browser’s print menu.

Open the free printable game and worksheet

Frequently asked questions

Related topics

• Spanish numbers 1 to 20: uno, dos, tres (Grade 3 Spanish) – What number is doce? Which word is 16 in Spanish? A free elementary Spanish game about numbers 1 to 20, with a printable game sheet.
• French greetings: bonjour, salut and au revoir (Grade 2 French) – What does bonjour mean? When do you say bonsoir? A free elementary French game about greetings and simple conversations, with a printable game sheet.

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