word is.
Where…?
| ¿Dónde quieres que quedemos? | Where do you want to meet? |
| ¿Dónde trabajas? | Where do you work? |
| ¿Dónde vives? | Where do you live? |
| ¿Dónde está tu piso? | Where’s your flat? |
| ¿Dónde te quedas? | Where are you staying? |
| ¿De dónde vienes? | Where do you come from? |
When…?
| ¿Cuándo estarás aquí? | When will you get here? |
| ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? | When’s your birthday? |
| ¿Sábes cuándo dará a luz Marta? | Do you know when Marta’s baby’s due? |
| ¿A qué hora quieres quedar? | When do you want to meet? |
How long have…?
| ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que estás en España? | How long have you been in Spain? |
| ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que trabajas aquí? | How long have you been working here? |
| ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que esperas? | How long have you been waiting? |
One very versatile way of asking someone socially how something is going or has gone is to use the phrase ¿Qué tal…? and then the noun in question. You don’t need to use any verb at all.
How…?
| ¿Qué tal las vacaciones? | How was your holiday? |
| ¿Qué tal el vuelo? | How was your flight? |
| ¿Qué tal el hotel? | How’s the hotel? |
Sometimes you’ll want to ask why a friend or acquaintance did or didn’t do something. You can use ¿Por qué…? and a past tense to ask the question (Why…?).
Why…?
| ¿Por qué te fuiste de Barcelona? | Why did you move from Barcelona? |
| ¿Por qué decidiste dedicarte a la enseñanza? | Why did you choose a career in teaching? |
| ¿Por qué no fuiste ayer? | Why didn’t you go yesterday? |
| ¿Por qué no me llamaste anoche por teléfono? | Why didn’t you ring me last night? |
When talking to friends and colleagues there’ll be plenty of things you’ll want to do together. To say what you would like to do, you can use me gustaría (I’d like). This comes from the verb gustar.
I’d like to…
| Me gustaría darte las gracias por tu ayuda. | I’d like to thank you for helping me. |
| Me gustaría hablar luego contigo. | I’d like to speak to you later. |
| Nos gustaría presentarte a un amigo. | We’d like you to meet a friend. |
| Nos gustaría invitarte a tomar una copa. | We’d like to invite you out for a drink. |
Alternatively, you can use quiero followed by the infinitive. If you want someone else to do something for you, use quiero que followed by a verb in the subjunctive. For more information on the subjunctive, see here.
I want to…
| Quiero organizar una fiesta sorpresa. | I want to organize a surprise party. |
| Quiero invitar a algunos amigos para mi cumpleaños. | I want to have a few friends over for my birthday. |
| Quiero que vengas conmigo. | I want you to come with me. |
| Quiero que esta noche todo salga bien. | I want this evening to be a success. |
You may want to ask people you know what you should do. One way to do this is to use ¿Crees que debo…? (Should I…?) followed by a verb in the infinitive. debo comes from the verb deber. For more on deber, see here.
Should I…?
| ¿Crees que debo invitar a su hermana? | Should I invite his sister? |
| ¿Crees que debo llamarle otra vez? | Should I call him again? |
| ¿Te parece buena idea ir a un restaurante chino? | Should we go to a Chinese restaurant? |
When talking to people you know, you’ll want to say what you think of things. In Spanish there are two main ways of doing this. You can either use creo or pienso, both of which mean literally I think. Or you can use me parece, which means literally it seems to me.
I think…
| Creo que tienes razón. | I think you’ve got a point. |
| Creo que deberíamos irnos a medianoche. | I think we should leave at midnight. |
| Pienso que Sonia tiene razón. | I think Sonia’s right. |
| Pienso que es un poco tarde para ir al cine. | I think it’s a bit late to go to the cinema. |
| Me parece una idea estupenda. | I think it’s a great idea. |
| A mí no me parece que sea así en absoluto. | I don’t think that’s the case at all. |
¿LO SABÍAS?
Don’t forget to add que (that) after me parece, creo and pienso. It’s optional in English, but not in Spanish.
When you’re with friends and colleagues, you’ll probably want to suggest doing things together. One simple way of doing this is to use podríamos (we could) followed by the infinitive. podríamos comes from the verb poder. For more information on poder, see here.
