Spanish Small Talk Questions: 69 Easy Ways To Start A Conversation In Spanish

One of the most exciting things about learning Spanish as an additional language is a fact that it’s key to enabling you to have conversations and forge relationships with Spanish speakers all over the world.

Spanish is one of the most common languages in the world, with native speakers and second-language speakers in almost every country. There are also a lot of different and interesting Spanish dialects to learn!

One of the most effective ways to learn Spanish is to speak it. While memorizing common Spanish words and phrases are a necessary first step to take, the way to gain fluency quickly is to have daily conversations with Spanish speakers.

Conversational practice is an important component of any “formal” Spanish language program. If you work with a native Spanish-speaking language tutor, a big part of your sessions will consist of conversational practice. Your tutor might introduce a topic of conversation and the two of you will then talk about it in Spanish.

To practice your Spanish, it’s also important to know how to start and sustain a simple daily conversation in Spanish. One way to do so is to learn Spanish small talk questions and how to answer them.

Small talk is an essential conversational skill that will help you make friends. Small talk may seem inconsequential, but starting a conversation using small talk is key to making friends and useful business contacts. 

To help you learn how to make small talk in Spanish, we have provided a list of some good Spanish small talk questions and how to answer them. There will also be a downloadable PDF file of these questions at the end of the post. 

How to introduce yourself 

Of course, you can’t just launch into small talk, ask someone what their hobbies are or their occupation is without making some introductions first.

Spanish speakers are going to be taken aback and might think you are a bit rude if you just start asking them personal questions so the first thing you will need to do is introduce yourself.

1. Hola, soy (your name)

Meaning: Hi, I’m (name)

This is the most basic Spanish phrase that you can use to introduce yourself. Greet the person you want to start talking to and then add your name. 

You should also check out the other basic greetings and goodbyes in Spanish that we have here. 

2. ¿Cómo te llamas?

Meaning: What’s your name?

Of course, after you’ve said hello and told them your name, you need to ask them what their name is. It’s not only the polite thing to do, it’s also a way to keep the conversation going.

Spanish questions you can use to get to know someone else

Once you’ve got the introduction out of the way, you can start asking a few more personal questions to get to know the person. Here are some good questions that you can use to learn more about them.

TIP: A proper conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. So, don’t just ask these questions, prepare to answer them yourself.

1. ¿De dónde eres? 

Meaning; Where are you from?

2. ¿A qué te dedicas? 

Meaning: What do you do for a living?

3. ¿Qué estudias? 

Meaning: What do you study/What's your major? 

4. ¿Qué te trae por aquí? 

Meaning: What brings you here?

5. ¿Cuánto tiempo llevas aquí? 

Meaning: How long have you been here?

6. ¿Cómo conoces a (name)? 

Meaning: How do you know (name)?

7. ¿Con quién estás aquí? 

Meaning; Who are you here with?

8. ¿A quién conoces aquí?

Meaning: Who do you know here?

9. ¿Vienes seguido por aquí? 

Meaning; Do you come here often?

Small talk questions about one’s family and homelife

Another good topic for small talk in Spanish is one’s family and home life. Spanish culture is very family-oriented and this aspect of the culture has spread to many areas of the world where Spanish is a common language. So, whether you be in Europe, Latin America, or Asia, a Spanish speaker should be eager to talk about their family and curious to hear about yours as well.

TIP: To help you out, you should probably also take a look at this guide we’re made to Spanish family vocabulary. 

1. ¿Tienes hermanos? 

Meaning: Do you have any siblings?

2. ¿Tienes hijos? 

Meaning: Do you have any children?

3. ¿Qué edad tienen? 

Meaning: How old are they?

4. ¿Estás casado?

Meaning: Are you married?

5. ¿Tienes novio/novia?

Meaning: Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend

6. ¿Qué hacen tus padres? 

Meaning: What do your parents do?

7. ¿Eres cercano/a sus padres? 

Meaning: Are you close to your parents?

8. ¿Ves a menudo a tus abuelos? 

Meaning: Do you see your grandparents often?

 9. ¿Donde creciste?

Meaning: Where did you grow up?

10. ¿Cómo es tu pueblo natal? 

Meaning: What's your hometown like?

Spanish small talk questions about hobbies

The best small talk questions are those that will get the person you are talking about to speak enthusiastically about a subject. You want to get more than just a “yes” or “no” or just a few words. 

One great way to really spark a conversation is to ask a few questions about someone’s hobbies or passions. What do they like to do for fun?

Most people have a few topics that they are enthusiastic about and would love to talk about. Questions that will help you find out what these topics are will help move your conversations beyond small talk.

TIP: Again, it’s not really enough to just ask questions, you need to also be able to answer them. Make sure that you too can talk about your hobbies and passions in Spanish. For example, art is always a good thing to talk about, so study this list of Spanish art words that we have here. Questions about musical taste are also a good conversation starter as are recommendations for Spanish telenovelas.

1. ¿Tienes un hobby?

Meaning: Do you have a hobby?

2. ¿Qué haces para divertirte? 

Meaning: What do you like to do for fun?

3. ¿Te gusta (hobby or activity)?

Meaning: Do you like to (hobby or activity)?

4. ¿Hablas otros idiomas? 

Meaning: Do you speak any other languages?

5. ¿Tienes alguna mascota? 

Meaning: Do you have any pets?

6. ¿Qué raza es tu perro/gato? 

Meaning: What breed is your dog/cat? 

7. ¿Practicas algún deporte? 

Meaning: Do you play a sport?

8. ¿Cuál es tu deporte preferido?

Meaning: What is your favorite sport?

9. ¿Cuál tipo de música te gusta más? 

Meaning: What's your favorite type of music?

10. ¿Tocas un instrumento? 

Meaning: Do you play an instrument?

11. ¿Cuál es tu (película/libro/banda) favorita? 

Meaning: What's your favorite (film/book/band)?

12. ¿Qué tipo de (películas/libros/bandas) te gusta?

Meaning: What types of (films/books/bands) do you like?

13. ¿Qué libro acabas de leer?

Meaning: What book did you just finish reading?

14. ¿Cuál es un libro que usted me recomendaría?

Meaning: What is a book that you would recommend to me?

15. ¿Qué película viste recientemente?

Meaning: What’s the most recent film you’ve seen?

16. ¿Cuál es tu programa de televisión favorito?

Meaning: What is your favorite TV show?

17. ¿Cuál es la peor película que has visto? 

Meaning: What's the worst film you've seen?

18. ¿Que es lo que te gustó mas de la pelicula?

Meaning: What do you like most about the movie?

19. ¿Te gusta bailar?

Meaning: Do you like to dance?

20. ¿Te gusta cocinar?

Meaning: Do you like to cook?

21. ¿Cuál es tu comida favorita? 

Meaning: What's your favorite food?

22. ¿Te gusta la comida (type of food like “Spanish/Japanese/Italian”)? 

Meaning: Do you like (type of) food?

23. ¿Puedes recomendarme un buen restaurante cerca de aquí? 

Meaning: Can you recommend to me a good restaurant near here?

24. ¿Cuál es tu restaurante favorito?

Meaning: What’s your favorite restaurant?

25. ¿Te gusta viajar? 

Meaning: Do you like to travel?

26. ¿En qué países has estado? 

Meaning: Which countries have you been to?

27. ¿Has estado en (place)?

Meaning: Have you been to (place)?

28. Si pudieras viajar a cualquier lugar, ¿dónde viajarías? 

Meaning; If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

29. ¿Cuál es el lugar favorito en que has estado? 

Meaning: What's your favorite place you've been to?

30. ¿A dónde fuiste la ultima vez de vacaciones?

Meaning: Where was the last place you went on holiday?

31. ¿Te gusta tu trabajo? 

Meaning: Do you like your job?

32. ¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de tu trabajo? 

Meaning: What do you like the most about your job?

33. ¿Qué es la cosa más difícil sobre tu trabajo? 

Meaning: What's the most difficult thing about your job?

34. ¿Fuiste a la universidad? 

Meaning: Did you go to university?

35. ¿Si pudieras volver atrás en el tiempo, estudiarías (university course) de nuevo?

Meaning: If you could go back in time, would you study (university course) again?

36. ¿Qué tradición cultural de su país es su favorita? 

Meaning: Which of your country’s cultural traditions is your favorite?

37. ¿Cómo celebra (holiday) la gente de aquí? 

Meaning: How do the people here celebrate (holiday)?

Other useful Spanish small talk questions

Here are a few other Spanish questions and phrases that you can use to strike up a conversation with Spanish speakers. When all else fails, you can always talk about the weather or the seasons. 

1. ¿Qué piensas tú sobre (subject or topic)? 

Meaning: What do you think about (subject or topic)?

2. Háblame/Cuéntame más de {subject or topic) 

Meaning; Tell me more about (subject or topic).

3. ¿Está desocupada esta silla? 

Meaning: Is this seat taken?

4. ¿Sabe qué hora es?

Meaning: Do you know what the time is?

5. ¿Sabe a qué hora cierra este lugar?

Meaning: Do you know what time this place closes?

6. ¿Sabe dónde está el/la (place)?

Meaning: Do you know where the (place) is?

7. Qué tiempo hace? 

Meaning: What's the weather like?

8. ¿Que vaz hacer este fin de semana?

Meaning: What are you going to do this weekend?

9. ¿Como te fue tu fin de semana?

Meaning: How was your weekend?

10. Tengo ganas de ver la nueva pelicula de (movie title)

Meaning: I'd like to see the new movie (movie title)

11. Me gusta lo que lleva puesto. ¿Dónde lo compró?

Meaning: I like what you’re wearing. Where did you buy it?

Conclusion

As we said at the start, Spanish small talk questions are the key to learning how to be able to fluently have Spanish conversations. It’s also the way to make friends and learn more about people in Spanish-speaking countries.

Memorize and learn the questions we’ve enumerated above (here’s a PDF that you can download) and practice using them in conversation. Make a “dialogue” and practice it in your mind, so that when you actually use them in conversation, you can respond to the answers you get and also continue the conversation by answering the questions yourself.

The best way to learn how to make small talk in Spanish at home, however, is to work with a native Spanish-speaking online tutor. You can practice asking these questions and answering them with your tutor who can provide you with hints and tips that will improve your pronunciation and accent. You are also going to get to learn a bit more about Spanish culture and about your tutor!

Good luck and enjoy!