Expressions of courtesy: How to be polite in Spanish (2024)

One of the most common challengesfor Spanish learners is knowing the right vocabulary and expressions to be polite in Spanish.We are here to helpour readers build conversational skills by providingcommon phrases that exhibit respect when talking to native Spanish speakers.

In this post, we will cover polite Spanish phrasesthat can serve in situations as varied as basic interactions to formal conversations. From understanding how to differentiate between túand ustedfor youin Spanish, to greetings, asking for something, and expressing gratitude, the various words and formulations we’ll see here can help anyone to be more polite when speaking Spanish.

Now let’s get started!

“You” polite in Spanish

The first thing to recognize is that a significant part of being polite in Spanish is knowing how to properly address someone. Our different words for youcan be confusing for English speakers, but understanding and using the appropriate Spanish youis a sign of respect and consideration.

In Spanish,when we address a single person asyou, we need to choose the informal túor the formalusted. Let’s see the main differences between them.

The main rule is that túis the familiar or informal you, while ustedis the formal Spanish you. We use túwhen talking to friends, family, children, and peers, whereas we use ustedwhen addressing elders, doctors, teachers, professionals, and often strangers.Think of túas you informal, and ustedas you politein Spanish.We explain these rules more in our dedicated post on tú vs usted.

The way these two pronouns affect verb conjugation is another important detail. Túhas its own second-person singular conjugation, whereas ustedtakes the same conjugations as the third-person singular pronouns of éland ella.

But what about addressing a group as you in plural? In Latin America, we use the third-person plural pronoun ustedesregardless of formality. In Spain, however, there’s an informal second-person plural counterpart to tú, which is vosotrosor vosotras. We go into a lot more detail on all of these in our post on every form of Youin Spanish.

Courtesy titles in Spanish

Just as in English you use Mr.and Mrs.to show respect when addressing someone by name, or even Siror Ma’am, we have similar courtesy titles in Spanish.

When greeting and addressing older men we useseñorboth as Sirand as a title to precede their name like Mr.in English. The equivalent for women is señora. When we address someone by their first name and want to be polite, we can precede their name by Donfor men and Doñaand for women.

• Good night,Mrs. Maria. – Buenas noches,Doña María.

• Good morning,Mr. José. – Buenos días,Señor José.

• Have a nice day,Mr.Juan. – Que tenga un buen día, Señor Juan.

• See you soon, Mrs.Patricia. – Hasta pronto, Señora Patricia.

For a full lesson on these and more, check out our post on Spanish titles and honorifics.

Polite greetingsin Spanish

Greetings are an important part of everyday interactions. When you arrive somewhere or whenever you wish to greet somebody, the following expressions are the polite Spanish greetings you need to know.

We cover these and more in our post on Spanish greetings. For some informal alternatives, check out our post on how’s it going in Spanish. Now let’s see each of our polite greetings in a bit more detail.

Buenos días

Buenos díasis fairly formal greeting, used anytime in the morning to be respectful with someone you don’t know.

Buenas tardes

Like buenos días, this polite expression is also used in formal situations. It’s the perfect phrase to use, for example, ifyou’re greeting someone in the office or arriving at an appointment. Buenos tardesis used anytime after noon, up until nightfall.

Buenas noches

Buenas noches is the formal greeting to be used at night. It can be used both as a greeting in the sense of good evening, and as a goodbye in the sense of have a good night.

Be careful with the literal translation of buenas nochesthough: before going to bed we have other expressions for saying good night in Spanish.

Politeexpressions to say Goodbye in Spanish

Like in English, there are several ways to say goodbyein Spanish. Here we present the most polite ones.

For a broader variety, see our post on goodbye in Spanish. We also have a post with additional ways to say have a nice day in Spanish.

Hasta luego

Hasta luegois a polite way to say goodbyewhen leaving. Even though it’s translation is see you later, you can use it regardless of whether you’ll likely see the other person later or not.

Hasta pronto

Hasta prontocan be both formal and semi-formal, though it’s not really used that often. Although it translates as until soon, it’s used more in contexts where you actually won’t see the other person for quite a while, or even when you’re not even sure that you’ll see them the next time.

Que le vaya bien

Wishing someone well as we say goodbyein Spanish is a very common practice. Que le vaya bienis a good way to be polite when wishing someone to have a good trip, or perhaps to wish them good luck at a conference. This phrase uses the subjunctive ir conjugation, so its literal translation is essentially that you may go well.

Que tenga un buen día

Que tenga un buen díais another way to express politeness while saying goodbye and wishing someone well. Using the subjunctiveand translating essentially as that you may have a good day, it is very useful when you want to end a conversation and take your leave of the other person.

How to ask for something in Spanish politely

If you want to ask for something politely in English, you can start your request with could Ior may Irather than can I. This use of conditional verb formsand subjunctive verb formsis also used in Spanish to soften requests and ask for things more politely.

Let’s see the most common such verbs that we use to make polite requests in Spanish.

Podría

Poder is the Spanish word for to be able to, so in the simple present tense usted puede translates as youcan (polite). Podríais the conditional ustedconjugation of poder, so it’s the equivalent of you couldin English.

We begin polite requests with podríain Spanish to say could you, while some translations are better when we think of it as may I havein Spanish, polite form.

• Could youtell me where the bathroom is? – ¿Podría decirme dónde está el baño?

• Could youtell me the time, please? – ¿Podría decirme la hora, por favor?

Me gustaría

You may be familiar with the Spanish verb gustar, which is frequently translated as to like. It’s used differently than most verbs, in that it’s generally just conjugated in the third person to match whatever is liked, while whoever is doing the liking is expressed with an indirect object pronoun.

Me gusta el queso, for example, meaning I like cheese, sees gustarconjugated to queso,while the first-person I in Spanish is expressed with the indirect object pronounme. A better literal translation could therefore be cheese is pleasing to me.

So how do we use gustarin our Spanish expressions of courtesy? Just as we did with poder above, we conjugate gustarin the conditional tenseto make polite requests. Me gustaríamay be translated as I would like, while it may also take a translation more along the lines of … would be pleasing to me.

• I would liketo know more about the contract. – Me gustaríasaber más sobre el contrato.

• If it’s be possible, we would likea room with a balcony, please. – Si fuera posible, nos gustaríauna habitación con balcón, por favor.

Quisiera

To say I want in Spanish, politeform, we start with the verb querer, which means to want. Rather than using the simple present of yo quiero, we conjugate quererin the imperfect subjunctiveto get yo quisiera. Quisierais usually translated in this context asI would likein Spanish, polite form, so it’s a very common formal option for how to ask for something in Spanish.

• I would like to eat in that restaurant. – Quisieracomer en ese restaurante.

• I would like to try the chicken tonight. – Quisieraprobar el pollo esta noche.

• I would liketo sit next to the window. – Quisierasentarme al lado de la ventana.

Por favor

To make requests as politely as possible,be sure to include the simple phrase por favor, meaning pleasein Spanish. Por favormay be placed at the beginning or middle of a request, but using it at the end of a sentence is more common.

• Please, could you tell me the time? – Por favor, ¿podría decirme la hora?

• Could you tell me, please, the time? – ¿Podría decirme, por favor, la hora?

• Could you tell me the time, please? – ¿Podría decirme la hora, por favor?

How to express gratitude politely in Spanish

Gracias, meaning thank you, is the most common way to express gratitude among Spanish speakers. We also have several other phrases that are particularly used in formal contexts.

We have another post with many additional ways to say Thank You in Spanish. The ones we present here are among the most polite expressions in Spanish for expressing gratitude.

Se lo agradezco

When you don’t know the person you’re talking to very well, or you’re in a formal situation and want to express your gratitude, you can say se lo agradezco.

This phrase is built on the verb agradecer, which means to thankor to give thanks, along with se, which is the direct object pronounfor usted, and lo, which is the third-person singular indirect object pronounthat translates here as for it. The literal translation of this formal expression is therefore I thank you for it.

Estoy muy agradecido/a

Estoy muy agradecidois a very neutral way to express how thankful you are for something. When it comes to formality, this is a common phrase used by Spanish speakers to say I am very thankful.

Let’s break this phrase down literally. Estoyis the yoconjugation of estar. Muyis an adverb of emphasis meaning muchor veryor really. Agradecidois the participleof the verb we saw above, agradecer, used here as a masculine adjectivemeaning thankful. When the speaker is a woman this adjective form needs to match her gender, so the expression becomes estoy muy agradecida.

Eso es muy amable de su parte

Eso es muy amable de su partehas a higher level of formality than our previous two phrases. You can use it when you want to recognize someone’s kindness. In Spanish, it is a polite way to say how kind of youor that is very kind of you.

• How kind of you!Thank you very much for your help. – ¡Eso es muy amable de su parte! Gracias por su ayuda.

• Did you buy that for me? How kind of you– ¿Compró eso para mí? Eso es muy amable de su parte.

Agradezco su ayuda en este asunto

Agradezco su ayuda en este asuntois one of the most formal ways to express gratitude in Spanish. Feel free to use this courteous Spanish phrase at the end of an email to give a more polite tone to the text, whether you’re writing to your boss or to a service provider.

The key verb here is the same one we saw above, agradecer. Literally, this phrase translates as I thank you for your help in this matter.

How to respond to gratitude politely

How do you respond when someone expresses gratitude? Let’s see a few polite responses.

We have a full post with over a dozen different ways to say You’re Welcome in Spanish. The ones we’re presenting today are the most polite expressions of courtesy in Spanish for responding to gratitude.

Es un placer

If you like helping people, consider this option in formal situations. Es un placeris a short and easy-to-learn phrase that translates literally as it is a pleasure. It can also be used when meeting new people, with es un placer serving as an equivalent tonice to meet you.

A su orden

A su ordenis a phrase that shows a sense of politeness and respect in Spanish culture. It’s a formal way of saying I’m at your service. You’ll hear this in shops or from customer service representatives after thanking them for their attention. When someone thanks you, responding with a su ordenis a way to tell them that they can count on you.

No hay nada que agradecer

You can use this polite phrase to express to the other person that what you did wasn’t a big deal. Older people tend to use it frequently. It’s very suitable in formal contexts, so feel free to say it.

Comparable English expressions are it’s nothingor there’s nothing to thank me for. Still, no hay nada que agradeceris a much more formal alternative to the common de nada, which is the default expression for you’re welcomein Spanish whose literal translation is simply it’s nothing.

Conclusion: How to be polite in Spanish

In this post, we covered different expressions of courtesy for being polite in Spanish. We started off with the differences between tú and usted, explaining the importance of using the formal youin Spanish for politeness. We learned the polite Spanish equivalents to Mr. and Mrs.

In our next sections, we saw the most polite Spanish greetingsand goodbyesto ensure polite encounters in everyday interactions. Then we learned polite ways how to ask for somethingin Spanish, looking at key verbsthat we conjugate in the conditional or the subjunctive to create expressions of courtesy in Spanish. We rounded out the post with sections on polite ways to say thank you, and on how to respond to such gratitudewith the best expressions of courtesy.

Mastering polite expressions in Spanish is essential for showing respect, consideration, and empathy towards others. Being polite in Spanish can serve as a bridge to connect with nativespeakers from different cultures and backgrounds, so by incorporating these expressions into your vocabulary, you can improve your conversations, feel more comfortable with the language, and interact better with Spanish speakers!