¿Qué tal? vs ¿Cómo estás?: A Lesson on the Different Spanish Greetings

Hi! What’s up? How are you? 

Our daily interactions thrive with greetings. Even without having a complete conversation with someone we pass on the street, we‘re quick to share a friendly greeting. 

As you begin your Spanish journey, understanding greetings like qué tal and cómo estás, and the difference between the two is crucial. 

Ready to explore the world of Spanish greetings? 

¡Vamos!

Basic Spanish Greetings

First impressions set the tone for future interactions and relationships. 

Think about how many times you greet people each day. 

You greet your family, friends, strangers on the street, your coffee barista, boss, clients—the list goes on. 

Of course, you don’t use the same greeting with everyone. You may use something as informal as “what’s up” with your friends, versus “good afternoon” or “how are you” with a teacher or potential client. 

Our greetings change fluidly based on the situation. 

In our native language, we don’t have to think about these changes. However, when learning Spanish, it’s good to realize the intricacies and differences of all the various greetings. 

By starting with the basics, you can easily master the Spanish greetings and avoid uncomfortable interactions or awkward first encounters. 

If you’ve ever stumbled through a greeting or used the wrong formality, don’t fret! We’ve all been there (I’ve made more mistakes than I can count!). 

So, how do you know whether to use qué tal or cómo estás? 

We’ll talk more about formality later, but the main difference is that qué tal is slightly less formal than cómo estás, even though both apply to informal situations.

Let’s take a look… 

All About Qué tal

You can use ¿Qué tal? as a phrase by itself or with additional words. 

By itself, qué tal literally means “what such,” but you can translate it as “how’s it going,” “how are things,” “how are you,” or “what’s up.” 

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal? – Hello! How’s it going?

Buenos días. ¿Qué tal? – Good morning. How are things?

Qué tal + noun

If you want to make the greeting more specific by asking about the person’s work or day, you can add a noun after the phrase qué tal. 

¿Qué tal tu día? – How’s your day?

¿Qué tal todo? – How’s everything going?

¿Qué tal tu trabajo? – How’s your job?

¿Qué tal tu familia? – How’s the family?

¿Qué tal tus vacaciones? – How was your vacation?

¿Qué tal tu fin de semana? – How was your weekend?

¿Qué tal la escuela? – How’s school?

How to Answer

The generic answer to any of these questions is bien, gracias, or “good, thanks.” But you can try responding with a more detailed answer, as in these examples:

¿Qué tal tu día? – How’s your day?

Más o menos. Ha sido un día largo. – Alright. It’s been a long day.

¿Qué tal todo? – How’s everything going?

Bien, gracias. Hemos estado ocupados estos días. – Good, thanks. We’ve been busy these days.

¿Qué tal tu trabajo? – How’s your job?

Cansado pero bien. – Tiring, but good.

¿Qué tal tu familia? – How’s your family? 

Un poco enferma, pero bien. – A little sick, but good.

¿Qué tal tus vacaciones? – How was your vacation?

Súper, gracias. Bastante relajantes. – Awesome, thanks. Really relaxing. 

¿Qué tal tu fin de semana? – How was your weekend?

Divertido. Fui a una fiesta de cumpleaños. – Fun. I went to a birthday party.

¿Qué tal la escuela? – How’s school?

Aburrida como siempre. – Boring, as always.

Qué tal + verb

You can also use qué tal before verbs to ask how something is or how something went.

¿Qué tal estás? – How are you?

¿Qué tal te salió el dibujo? – How did your drawing turn out?

¿Qué tal te va? – How’s it going?

¿Qué tal te fue? – How did it go?

¿Qué tal suena? – How does it sound?

¿Qué tal se ve? – How does it look?

How to Answer

Again, the generic answer to all of these questions is bien, gracias (good, thanks), but you can give some more details with some of the answers below.

¿Qué tal estás? – How are you?

Cansada, pero bien, gracias. – Tired, but good, thanks.

¿Qué tal te salió el dibujo? – How did your drawing turn out?

Un poco extraño. – A little strange.

¿Qué tal te va? – How’s it going?

Un poco estresante pero bien. – A bit stressful, but good.

¿Qué tal te fue? – How did it go?

Excelente, gracias. –  Excellent, thanks.

¿Qué tal suena? – How does it sound?

Más o menos. – Alright. 

¿Qué tal se ve? – How does it look?

Hermoso. – Beautiful.

Other Uses of Tal

Tal is a multifaceted Spanish word with numerous uses. While this tiny word may not make much sense as a greeting, by understanding its various meanings, you can get a better grasp on how to use this word in Spanish.

1. Tal as an Adjective

Meaning “such”

Él toca con tal pasión que te pierdes en su música. – He plays with such passion that
you get lost in his music.

Meaning “such-and-such”

Le dije que iba a hacer tal cosa, pero se me olvidó. – I promised him that I would do
such-and-such a thing, but I forgot. 

Meaning “a certain”

Una tal señora Esperanza te vino a buscar. – A certain Mrs. Esperanza came looking for you.

Watch out! Just like saying “a certain person” or “such-and-such a thing” can have a more negative connotation, using tal in these circumstances also has a terse meaning.

Meaning “that or those”

A mí no me pidieron tales cosas. – They didn’t ask me for those things.

Adjective and Noun Agreement

Spanish adjectives always change with the plurality of the noun they modify.  Tal is one of the few Spanish adjectives that goes before the noun, not after. When tal is an adjective, make sure it agrees with the noun. 

If the noun is plural, like in the last example above, add an -es to tal to make it plural as well. 

Tales cosas – such things

Tales personas – such people

Tales perros – such dogs

Some Spanish adjectives change based on the gender of the noun, but tal is not one of them. Since it ends in an -l, it does not have a feminine or masculine form, only a singular and plural form. 

2. Tal as a Pronoun

Meaning “such”

No lo trates como tal. – Don’t treat him as such. 

3. Tal as an adverb

Meaning “like”

Tienes que hacerlo así tal como lo hice yo. – You have to do it like this, just like I did it.

Meaning “as it is”

Dámelo tal cual. – Give it to me just as it is.

4. Common Expressions with Tal

Qué tal si… – What if…

Qué tal si esperamos un día para hacer todo. – What if we wait a day to do everything.

Tal vez. – Maybe

Tal vez lleguemos más tarde. – Maybe we’ll come later.

Con tal de que… – As long as… 

Puedes tocar la guitarra con tal de que vayas al otro cuarto. – You can play the guitar as long as you go in the other room. 

Which Is More Formal: Qué tal or Cómo estás?

Let’s imagine a scale that goes from informal on the left to formal on the right. 

On the far right, we would have the greeting for usted: ¿Cómo está? 

Usted is the most formal way to say “you” in Spanish, and cómo está uses the usted conjugation of estar, which expresses formality. 

Somewhere near the middle, we would have our greeting for tú: ¿Cómo estás? 

Estás is the tú conjugation of estar, which shows familiarity and friendliness with the person you are talking to. 

Closer to the left side of our scale is qué tal. This is not the most informal greeting, since colloquial greetings like qué onda and qué hubo would take that place on the far left side of the scale. 

However, qué tal is more informal than cómo estás. You can use both with your friends, but qué tal has a more informal quality. 

If you use qué tal with a verb or noun following it, it becomes slightly more formal. However, just using the phrase qué tal alone is quite informal. 

When to Use Each Phrase

So, who do you use each phrase with?

Spanish formality is not a black and white subject. Every person you ask has their own definition of when to use tú and usted, as well as when to use various greetings. Nevertheless, here are some general guidelines you can use to help you navigate the world of formality.

Usted and ¿Cómo está?

• People you just met
• Elders
• Authority figures like policemen, judges, and professors

Tú and ¿Cómo estás?

• People you know
• Friends
• Classmates and coworkers
• People of the same age

¿Qué tal?

• People you feel comfortable and familiar with
• Close friends and family

At the end of the day, the choice to use various greetings depends on how comfortable and familiar you feel with the person you are talking to. Some people always use more informal phrases like qué tal, while others prefer to show respect to everyone with a phrase like cómo está.

In terms of family and friends, many people choose to use usted and more formal greetings, while others use much more informal phrases like qué tal and tú. It all depends on what you feel comfortable with and what you want to express more: respect or closeness. 

If you are talking with a Spanish-speaking friend, don’t be afraid to ask them if you can use an informal form with them or for more details on how they personally use each phrase.

Other Ways to Say “How Are You?” in Spanish

Here is a more complete list of Spanish phrases that mean “how are you?”, ranging from the most informal to the most formal. 

¿Qué onda? – What’s up?

¿Quihubo? – What’s up?

¿Qué más? – What’s new?

¿Cómo vas? – How are you doing?

¿Qué me cuentas? – What’s new? (Literally: what can you tell me?)

¿Qué tal? – How are you? How’s it going?

¿Qué hay de nuevo? – What’s new?

¿Cómo estás? – How are you? (informal)

¿Cómo estás tú? – How are you? (informal)

¿Qué novedades? – What’s new? (Literally: what news?)

¿Cómo está? – How are you? (formal)

¿Cómo está usted? – How are you? (formal)

Here are some sample conversations to give you a better idea of how to use each phrase:

¿Qué onda, vos? ¡Qué tiempo sin verte amigo! 

What’s up, dude! I haven’t seen you in such a long time!

¡Hola, Marcos! ¿Qué más? 

Hey Marcos! What’s new? 

Buenos días, amiga. ¿Qué me cuentas? 

Good morning, friend. What’s new?

Buenas tardes, ¿cómo estás? 

Good afternoon, how are you?

Hola, señor. ¿Cómo está? ¿En qué le puedo servir? 

Hello, sir. How are you? What can I help you with?

Buenos días, señor juez. ¿Cómo está usted? 

Good morning, your honor (judge). How are you?

There are many different ways to express the same idea, but if you’re just starting out then stick with qué tal, cómo estás, and cómo está. 

Decide who you feel comfortable using each term with and stay the course. You can always add more colorful expressions later. 

¿Cómo estás versus ¿Cómo eres?

We’ve talked a lot about phrases with estar (cómo estás, cómo está), but what about the other “to be” verb, ser?

Questions using ser are not the same as questions with estar. 

Check out: Ser vs Estar: Mini Quizzes in Present and Past Tense to Boost Your Fluency

¿Cómo estás? – How are you?

¿Cómo eres? – What are you like?

¿Cómo está usted? – How are you? 

¿Cómo es usted? – What are you like? 

¿Cómo está él/ella? – How is she/he/it?

¿Cómo es él/ella? – What is she/he/it like?

Think of it like this: estar is for temporary things, while ser is for permanent characteristics. 

Our well-being and mood are things that change, so we use estar for the question “how are you (today/right now)?” 

For permanent states, like physical appearance, use ser. 

How’s Your Day Going? 

¿Qué tal tu día? Understanding these greetings is wonderful, but it’s time to put them into practice! If you don’t have anyone to practice your Spanish with (or if you would like to practice in a more formal setting), sign up for a free trial Spanish class with one of our amazing teachers today. 

After just one class with our certified, native Spanish-speaking teachers, you will start speaking Spanish. Ask them any questions you may have, and watch as your fluency blossoms in no time!

If you have a young Spanish learner at home, make sure to share what you’re learning with them and practice these greetings at home. Feel free to use our extensive resources for teaching Spanish at home, or include your young one in the Spanish class with your HSA teacher!

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