Texting & dating apps: Making plans to meet by text

💬 With apetecer, the thing you fancy does the verb's work and te marks the person, much like gustar. Swap in anything: ¿Te apetece un café? "Do you fancy a coffee?"

🇪🇸 Apetecer is everyday Spain Spanish and sounds warm, not pushy. In Latin America you'd more often hear ¿Quieres...?.

💬 ir bien means "to suit" or "to work for". Change te to fit the person: ¿os va bien? asks a group, using the vosotros form that's only used in Spain.

💬 Te va bien means "suits you" and works for any time or plan. Try ¿Te va bien a las ocho? "Does eight suit you?"

💬 Spanish doesn't use a word for "on" with days: el jueves alone means "on Thursday". Make it plural, los jueves, for "on Thursdays".

🇪🇸 In Spain, la tarde stretches until about 8 or 9 pm, so it covers what English speakers would call early evening.

🇪🇸 In Spain, la tarde stretches from after lunch until about nine, so it covers what English calls the early evening. La noche starts late, around dinner time.

💬 Starting with ¿Y...? is the easy way to suggest an alternative. Try ¿Y el sábado? "How about Saturday?"

🇪🇸 vale is Spain's all-purpose "OK" and you'll hear it everywhere. It marks you as Spain-based, since Latin Americans say está bien or ok.

🇪🇸 Vale is the everyday "okay" in Spain, and you'll see it constantly in texts, often shortened to vl. It marks you as someone used to Spain, since Latin Americans rarely use it.

💬 For clock times, use a las plus the number. One o'clock is the exception: a la una "at one".

🇪🇸 Many Spanish towns have a Plaza Mayor "main square", and it's a classic, safe spot to meet a date before heading to a bar nearby.

💬 Spanish often makes casual requests with the plain present tense. Try ¿Me pasas la sal? "Can you pass me the salt?"

🇪🇸 WhatsApp is how practically everyone in Spain texts, so moving a chat there from a dating app is the normal next step once a date is agreed.

💬 Pasar is the casual verb for sending or passing something on, and the little words go before it with te first, then lo. Same shape: te la paso for something feminine, like a foto "photo".

💬 ¡Hasta...! plus a day or time is the standard sign-off for when you'll next see someone. Try ¡Hasta mañana! "See you tomorrow!"

🇪🇸 Signing off with un beso is everyday and friendly in Spain, even between friends, so it isn't especially romantic. Besos is common too.