NAME¿Cómo te llamas?
The phrase asks what the other person is called.
0.5Your First Conversation
Lesson 0.5
Enter a conversation before you know every rule.
A small set of complete chunks lets you greet someone, exchange names, and ask how they are.
Meaningful from the start
A complete phrase can be useful before every piece is explained.
Grammar study will soon show you how Spanish sentences are built. But conversation also relies on high-frequency chunks that speakers retrieve as a whole.
Me llamo introduces your name. ¿Cómo te llamas? asks for the other person’s name. Mucho gusto responds to the introduction, and ¿Cómo estás? moves from identity to the person’s current state.
Learn the exchange as a sequence of social moves. The wording matters, but so does knowing why each line appears next.
Choose the social move
Someone says: Me llamo Sofía.
The person has just introduced herself.
Which response fits the moment?
The five-turn frame
Conversation becomes manageable when each line has a job.
Hola opens the interaction. Me llamo + name offers identity. ¿Cómo te llamas? returns the invitation and asks for the other person’s name.
Mucho gusto recognizes the meeting. ¿Cómo estás? asks about the person’s state; Estoy bien, gracias gives a simple answer and closes the exchange politely.
The opening question mark and accent in cómo are part of the written question. When speaking, the full phrase—not English word order—should guide you.
OPEN
Hola
Make contact.
IDENTIFY
Me llamo…
Offer your name.
ASK
¿Cómo te llamas?
Invite the other name.
ACKNOWLEDGE
Mucho gusto
Recognize the introduction.
CONNECT
¿Cómo estás?
Ask how the person is.
Two questions with cómo
The rest of the phrase decides what you are asking.
STATE¿Cómo estás?
The phrase asks how the other person is.
Do not translate cómo one word at a time and invent English order. Retrieve each complete question for its conversational job.
Follow the exchange
Ana asks: ¿Cómo te llamas?
Which answer provides the requested information?
Organize the moves
Match each phrase to its conversational purpose.
Place each chunk under the job it performs.
Build the question
Ask for the other person’s name.
Build the complete question.
Build the Spanish here
A first exchange
Two people meet without translating every word.
Listen to the conversation, then follow the social sequence.
Who asks for the first name?
Which line answers a question about state?
Retrieve the chunks
Complete the exchange without choices.
Type the missing conversational phrase.
Your first conversation
Write both sides of a short meeting.
Write at least four separate lines. Introduce yourself, ask a name, respond to the introduction, and ask or answer how someone is.
- Use me llamo
- Use ¿Cómo te llamas?
- Use mucho gusto
- Use estás or estoy
Keep the exchange
A conversation is a sequence of purposes.
Retrieve the line that fits the social move instead of translating one isolated English word at a time.
How do I make contact and identify myself?
holame llamo
How do I ask for the other name?
¿cómo te llamas?
How do I acknowledge and ask about state?
mucho gusto¿cómo estás?
End of lesson
Make the evidence count.
Complete 7 more interactions before finishing.