Question 1

This lesson is about tú and usted. Which one applies to this conversation, since neither word is actually in the sentence?

Accepted Answer

This is definitely an usted (formal) situation! Calling someone señora (ma'am) shows respect and sets a polite tone. If the speakers continued the conversation to ask "How are you?", they would use the formal ¿Cómo está usted? rather than the informal ¿Cómo estás tú?.

Question 2

Why is it buenos días and not buenas días? Doesn't días end in an "a"?

Accepted Answer

Día (day) is a famous rule-breaker in Spanish! Even though it ends in "-a", it is a masculine word. Since adjectives must match the noun they describe, the masculine plural word días gets the masculine plural adjective buenos.

Question 3

What do the long dashes (—) at the beginning of the phrases mean?

Accepted Answer

In written Spanish, these long dashes are used to indicate dialogue. Instead of using quotation marks like in English, Spanish uses a dash at the start of a line to show that someone is speaking. The two dashes in this example show two different people taking turns to speak.

Question 4

Is it okay to use a casual word like hola when speaking to a señora?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! While hola translates to "hello" or "hi", it isn't restricted to just casual chats with friends. It is completely natural and polite to say hola to someone you are addressing formally, especially when you pair it with a respectful greeting like buenos días.

—Buenos días, señora. —Hola, buenos días.

Breakdown of —Buenos días, señora. —Hola, buenos días.

Questions & Answers about —Buenos días, señora. —Hola, buenos días.

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