How are you? Fine.

¿Cómo está?
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¿Cómo está? Bien.

Before you dive into a conversation, it’s nice to exchange a few pleasantries. Greetings are first, of course, and then if you know the person, it’s typical to ask how they are. There are a number of different Spanish expressions, depending on your relationship with the people you’re talking to and how many there are.

How are you?

There are four ways to ask the basic question "How are you?" depending on the person(s) you’re addressing. (See "You" in Spanish for detailed information.)

The main verb to use is estar (to be).

¿Cómo estás?   (tú)
¿Cómo estáis?   (vosotros)
¿Cómo está Ud.?   (Ud.)
¿Cómo están Uds.?   (Uds.)

How’s it going? What’s up?

These questions are informal, so use them only for people you address as tú / vosotros.

  • ¿Qué tal?
  • ¿Cómo andas?
  • ¿Cómo va?
  • ¿Qué hubo?*
  • ¿Qué pasa?*

* These can also mean "What happened / What’s wrong?"

I’m fine

Depending on the situation, you can offer a real answer (with friends, you might talk about feelings, work, family, travel, etc.), but most of the time, you’ll just want to respond with a Spanish equivalent of "fine" or "very good":

  Estoy is optional: you can respond with either estoy bien, estoy muy bien or just bien, muy bien.

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