Basic expressions: Greeting someone and apologizing for being late
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Key Phrases
Buenos días.
Good morning.
Perdón por llegar tarde.
Sorry for being late.
¿Cómo estás?
How are you?
Skills You'll Learn
Greeting someone politely
Saludar a alguien con cortesía
Apologizing for arriving late
Disculparse por llegar tarde
Asking and answering how someone is
Preguntar y responder cómo está alguien
Lesson Roleplay
Imagine you’ve just arrived a little late to meet someone in the morning, and you exchange polite greetings, apologize, thank them for waiting, ask how they are, and then head inside together.
Hola, buenos días.
Hello, good morning.
Hola, Emily . Qué gusto verte.
Hi, Emily. Nice to see you.
Perdón por llegar tarde.
Sorry for being late.
No te preocupes, está bien.
Don't worry, it's okay.
Gracias por esperar.
Thanks for waiting.
Lesson Vocabulary & Phrases
Hola
OH-lah
Hello
Buenos
BWEH-nohs
Good
Días
DEE-ahs
Mornings
Buenos días
BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs
Good morning
Hola, Emily Smith .
OH-lah
Hi, Emily Smith.
Qué gusto
keh GOOS-toh
What a pleasure
🇲🇽 [Qué gusto verte.] is warm and natural with people you already know or when the tone is friendly. With strangers in Mexico, people more often start with [mucho gusto] when meeting for the first time.
See breakdown →Verte
BEHR-teh
To see you
💬 [Verte] is [ver] plus [te], so literally "to see you." You can reuse this pattern with other verbs: [conocerte] "to meet/know you," [ayudarte] "to help you."
See breakdown →Qué gusto verte.
keh GOOS-toh BEHR-teh
Nice to see you.
🇲🇽 [Qué gusto verte.] sounds especially natural when you are seeing someone again, not usually at a first meeting. For a first introduction, [mucho gusto] is more common.
See breakdown →Perdón.
pehr-DOHN
Sorry.
🇲🇽 [Perdón.] works well for a quick apology, like being late or bumping into someone. In Mexico it can also be used to get attention politely, like "excuse me."
See breakdown →Learn this vocabulary list the easy way
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