juntosHow to answer ¿cómo estás? without sounding like lesson one
Nobody answers a greeting with a grade.
Muy bien, gracias isn't wrong. It just ends the conversation, because the other half of the exchange is missing: asking back. Bien, ¿y tú? or todo bien, ¿y usted? closes the loop, and it's what almost everyone says. Todo bien (all good) is the everyday default from Mexico down to Argentina.
A few more natural replies: ahí vamos (getting by), bien, bien (fine, fine), aquí, tranquilo (here, taking it easy), bien, ¿y la familia? if you know them. In Mexico, ¿qué onda? and ¿cómo va? are what friends actually ask, and todo bien answers both.
Match the pronoun to the person: ¿y tú? for people you'd use tú with, ¿y usted? for older people, shopkeepers, anyone you've just met formally. When in doubt in Mexico and Central America, usted with strangers is never wrong.
The reel. This slip, as it happens, in thirty seconds.
Try your own sentence
Type any Spanish sentence and the Juntos tutor grades it out of 100, names the slip and shows the fix. No account.
Also worth knowing
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Todo bien, ¿y tú? | All good, and you? |
| Ahí vamos, ¿y usted? | Getting by, and you? |
| ¿Qué onda? ¿Cómo va todo? | What's up? How's everything? |
Think you would catch slips like this one in the moment? Play Spot the slip, a ten-round quiz built from every slip on this site.
Every answer graded, with the fix and why
Grammar, reading, speaking and messaging in one Spanish program, A1 to C1. The tutor catches slips like this one before a person hears them. 7 days free, no card.
Start your free trialMore from Juntos: free Spanish grammar checker · Spanish spell and accent checker · AI Spanish tutor · practice Spanish with friends · Spanish games · all grammar courses · all practice scenarios · common Spanish mistakes · Spanish false friends · Spot the slip quiz · Spanish verb conjugations · verb conjugator · best AI Spanish tutors compared · Duolingo alternatives · about Juntos · home