Spanish Conversation Questions: 30 With Natural Answers

¡Hola! Alejandra here, Spanish teacher from Buenos Aires.

The short answer

These are the Spanish conversation questions people really ask, grouped by moment: meeting someone, small talk, getting to know them, and the deeper ones for when the second coffee arrives. Each comes with the English and a natural answer, because knowing the question is half the job. The other half is not freezing when someone asks it back.

All of them use tú, the informal “you”, which is right with people your age and anyone who uses tú with you first. Where usted (the polite “you”) matters, I show it.

First, tú or usted?

Use tú with friends, people your age, and anyone who speaks to you with tú. Use usted with older strangers, in shops and offices, and with someone’s grandmother. The questions change only slightly:

• ¿Cómo estás? (tú) → ¿Cómo está? (usted): “How are you?”
• ¿De dónde eres? (tú) → ¿De dónde es? (usted): “Where are you from?”
• ¿A qué te dedicas? (tú) → ¿A qué se dedica? (usted): “What do you do?”

When in doubt, start with usted. If they want tú, they’ll say so: Tutéame, por favor (“Call me tú, please”).

Serving customers at work? Use usted and keep it short: ¿En qué le puedo ayudar? (“How can I help you?”), ¿Algo más? (“Anything else?”).

Meeting someone

Question	English	A natural answer
¿Cómo te llamas?	What’s your name?	Me llamo Ana. ¿Y tú? (I’m Ana. And you?)
¿De dónde eres?	Where are you from?	Soy de Chicago, pero vivo en Austin. (I’m from Chicago, but I live in Austin.)
¿A qué te dedicas?	What do you do (for a living)?	Soy enfermera. (I’m a nurse.)
¿Cuánto tiempo llevas aquí?	How long have you been here?	Dos semanas, más o menos. (Two weeks, more or less.)
¿Cómo conoces a Pablo?	How do you know Pablo?	Trabajamos juntos. (We work together.)
¿Hablas inglés?	Do you speak English?	Sí, pero quiero practicar español. (Yes, but I want to practise Spanish.)

¿A qué te dedicas? is the friendly way to ask about work. ¿Cuál es tu trabajo? is correct, and sounds like a form.

Small talk

Question	English	A natural answer
¿Qué tal?	How’s it going?	Bien, ¿y tú? (Good, and you?)
¿Qué tal tu fin de semana?	How was your weekend?	Tranquilo. Dormí un montón. (Quiet. I slept loads.)
¿Qué hiciste ayer?	What did you do yesterday?	Nada especial, trabajé todo el día. (Nothing special, I worked all day.)
¿Hace mucho calor aquí en verano?	Is it very hot here in summer?	¡Muchísimo! Prepárate. (Very! Get ready.)
¿Tienes planes para hoy?	Do you have plans for today?	Todavía no. ¿Por qué? (Not yet. Why?)
¿Ya comiste?	Have you eaten yet?	No, ¿vamos a comer algo? (No, shall we get something to eat?)

¿Qué tal? is the all-purpose opener. Add a noun and it means “how was…?”: ¿Qué tal el viaje? (“How was the trip?”).

Getting to know someone

Question	English	A natural answer
¿Qué te gusta hacer en tu tiempo libre?	What do you like doing in your free time?	Me encanta cocinar y salir a correr. (I love cooking and going for runs.)
¿Tienes hermanos?	Do you have brothers and sisters?	Sí, una hermana mayor. (Yes, an older sister.)
¿Dónde creciste?	Where did you grow up?	En un pueblo cerca de la costa. (In a small town near the coast.)
¿Qué música escuchas?	What music do you listen to?	De todo, pero sobre todo rock. (A bit of everything, but mostly rock.)
¿Tienes mascotas?	Do you have pets?	Tengo un gato que me odia. (I have a cat who hates me.)
¿Cuál es tu comida favorita?	What’s your favourite food?	Los tacos, sin duda. (Tacos, no question.)
¿Por qué estudias español?	Why are you learning Spanish?	Porque quiero viajar por Latinoamérica. (Because I want to travel around Latin America.)
¿Has viajado mucho?	Have you travelled a lot?	Un poco. Quiero conocer México. (A bit. I want to visit Mexico.)

Food and going out

Question	English	A natural answer
¿Tienes hambre?	Are you hungry?	Muchísima. (Starving.)
¿Qué me recomiendas?	What do you recommend?	Pide las empanadas, son buenísimas. (Order the empanadas, they’re great.)
¿Pedimos la cuenta?	Shall we ask for the bill?	Sí, ya es tarde. (Yes, it’s late.)
¿Salimos esta noche?	Shall we go out tonight?	¡Dale! / ¡Claro! (Sure!)
¿Te gusta bailar?	Do you like dancing?	Me gusta, pero bailo pésimo. (I like it, but I’m a terrible dancer.)

The deeper ones

For the second coffee, or the third hour of a long dinner.

Question	English	A natural answer
¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de tu trabajo?	What do you like most about your job?	La gente, la verdad. (The people, honestly.)
Si pudieras vivir en otro país, ¿cuál elegirías?	If you could live in another country, which would you choose?	Creo que Colombia. (I think Colombia.)
¿Qué harías con un año libre?	What would you do with a year off?	Viajaría sin plan. (I’d travel with no plan.)
¿Qué extrañas de tu país?	What do you miss about your country?	A mi familia y la comida de mi abuela. (My family and my grandmother’s cooking.)
¿Cuál es el mejor consejo que te han dado?	What’s the best advice you’ve been given?	“No te tomes todo tan en serio.” (“Don’t take everything so seriously.”)

🤷 Depende del País: “how’s it going?”

The neutral ones, ¿Qué tal? and ¿Cómo estás?, work everywhere. Then every country has its own:

• 🇲🇽 Mexico: ¿Qué onda? (“what’s up?”)
• 🇨🇴 Colombia: ¿Qué más? (“what’s new?”), or ¿Quiubo?
• 🇪🇸 Spain: ¿Qué pasa? (“what’s up?”)
• 🇨🇱 Chile: ¿Cómo estái?, a Chilean way of saying ¿cómo estás?
• 🇦🇷 Argentina: ¿Cómo andás? (“how are you doing?”), with the vos form we use in Buenos Aires

You don’t need to use these. You do need to recognise them, because they will be the first thing someone says to you.

What to say when you get lost

Freezing is normal. Smiling and nodding is the real problem: the other person thinks you understood and speeds up. These lines keep the conversation alive, and none of them is rude.

Spanish	English	When
¿Me lo repites, por favor?	Can you say that again, please?	You missed it
¿Puedes hablar un poco más despacio?	Can you speak a bit more slowly?	They’re too fast
Perdón, no te entendí.	Sorry, I didn’t catch that.	You lost the whole sentence
¿Qué significa…?	What does … mean?	One word stopped you
¿Cómo se dice… en español?	How do you say … in Spanish?	You’re missing a word
Estoy aprendiendo, ten paciencia conmigo.	I’m learning, bear with me.	Before you start

With usted: ¿Me lo repite? and ¿Puede hablar más despacio?. With a tutor, ask at the start of the class: ¿Podemos hablar un poco más despacio hoy? (“Can we speak a bit more slowly today?”). A good tutor will be glad you asked.

Using these in a language exchange or with a tutor

Plan it rather than going with the flow. Pick one block of questions above per session, say so at the start, and let your partner ask you all of them; then swap. Bring three things you tried to say this week and couldn’t, and ask how to say them. Agree on corrections too: a few at the end is kinder and more useful than one every sentence.

On an exchange app, a first message with tú is normal: ¡Hola! Soy Sam, de Chicago. Estoy aprendiendo español. ¿Quieres practicar? (“Hi! I’m Sam, from Chicago. I’m learning Spanish. Want to practise?”).

How to practise these questions

1. Answer each one aloud, about yourself. Not the model answer: yours. That’s the version you’ll need.
2. Ask it back. Every answer above can end with ¿Y tú? (“And you?”). Conversations die when nobody asks it back.
3. Hear them in context. Questions sound different in a real exchange: faster, softer, often half-swallowed. Read them inside these free Spanish dialogues, and learn the filler words that come with the answers, like pues and bueno.

To find out how much of a real conversation you’d catch today, take the free Spanish level test. Two minutes, real audio.

FAQ

What are good Spanish conversation starters?

¿Qué tal? (“How’s it going?”), ¿De dónde eres? (“Where are you from?”) and ¿A qué te dedicas? (“What do you do?”) work anywhere. For a group, ¿Cómo conoces a…? (“How do you know…?”) gets people talking about each other.

How do you ask “how are you” in Spanish?

¿Cómo estás? (informal) or ¿Cómo está? (formal). ¿Qué tal? is more casual and very common. Locally, you’ll also hear ¿Qué onda? in Mexico and ¿Qué más? in Colombia.

Should I use tú or usted in conversation?

Tú with people your age, friends and anyone who uses tú with you. Usted with older strangers, in shops and in formal settings. In much of Latin America, people use usted more than you’d expect, so listen first.

How do I keep a Spanish conversation going?

Answer, add one detail, and ask it back: Soy de Chicago. Hace mucho frío allá. ¿Y tú, de dónde eres? (“I’m from Chicago. It’s very cold there. And you, where are you from?”). That three-step habit does more than any list of questions.

What do I say when someone switches to English?

Ask, kindly, to stay in Spanish: ¿Podemos seguir en español? Estoy practicando. (“Can we keep going in Spanish? I’m practising.”). Most people switch to be helpful, not to judge you. If they want to practise their English too, split the time: ¿Diez minutos en español y diez en inglés? (“Ten minutes in Spanish and ten in English?”).

Should I use tú or usted with my partner’s parents?

Start with usted and wait. Many families will tell you to use tú within minutes. In parts of Colombia, especially Bogotá and the Andean centre, many people use usted even with family and close friends, so don’t read it as coldness.

Why do some people switch between tú and usted with me?

It can be a regional habit or a signal. Moving to tú is warmer; moving back to usted can mean respect, distance or, now and then, annoyance. If you’re unsure, follow their lead.