How are you?
Use estás with someone you address as tú. The accent belongs on both cómo and estás.
FREE BEGINNER LESSON 2 · SPANISH
Spanish: How are you?
Learn to use how are you? in a practical conversation and understand a natural reply.
Informal · one person. Learn the meaning, listen to the pronunciation, then practise in the interactive lesson.
Practise this lessonOpening vocabulary referenceUseful Spanish phrases and their meanings
I am well, thank you.
Estoy means I am; bien means well. This is a natural short reply to ¿Cómo estás?
And you?
Y means and; tú means you. The accent distinguishes tú from tu, meaning your.
I am well too.
También means too or also. Yo makes the comparison explicit, but it can be left out.
How the sentence works
Estar describes how someone feels: estás means you are and estoy means I am. Tú is informal singular you. Written question marks go at both ends. Speakers usually leave out yo because estoy already identifies the speaker.
A short conversation in Spanish
Hi! How are you?
I am well, thank you. And you?
I am well too.
Words to recognise
how
well
and
too / also
Listen to the whole phrase before focusing on each word. You can replay as often as you like, and the interactive lesson uses pictures and a short exchange to put the meaning in context.
Open the interactive lessonThe opening six teaching lessons are free, including the mini-tests after lessons three and six. A test accepts any answer and shows the score and corrections at the end. No typing or speaking aloud is required.
Keep learning Spanish
Free five-minute audio lesson and MP3 · Language learning games
The pronunciation uses prepared synthetic voices. Credits and licences explain the free voice models. Independent native-speaker certification is not claimed.