“Do you speak English?” in Spanish

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do you speak english in spanish

How to ask a Spanish speaker if they speak English?

Everyone who is learning Spanish has this experience at some time or another: you start a conversation with a native Spanish speaker, feeling very confident in your abilities, then… you just don’t understand a single word they’re saying. Or, you understand, but you realize that you don’t quite have the vocabulary that you need to carry out your part of the conversation. It’s OK. The first time you have a real-world conversation in Spanish, it can be very hard to get your bearings. Native speakers might be speaking fast, without a lot of time for you to interpret what they’re saying. They may be using colloquialisms or downright slang. Or you may just realize that outside of the controlled environment of a Spanish classroom, you are not quite at the level you thought you were.

Either way, it’s fine to ask a Spanish speaker if they speak English. If they do, they may actually be eager to test out their own language skills on you. While there can be a lot of benefits to pushing yourself a little bit beyond your comfort zone when it comes to language learning, you don’t want to have to totally stumble through a conversation by trying to force it.

spanish for do you speak english

Do you speak English?

Here are a few ways that you can (politely) ask “do you speak English?” in Spanish:

  • ¿Hablas inglés? Do you speak English? (informal)
  • ¿Habla inglés? Do you speak English? (formal)
  • ¿Habla usted inglés? Do you speak English? (formal)
  • ¿Vos hablás inglés? Do you speak English? (Argentina)
  • ¿Se habla inglés? Is English spoken here? (passive voice)

Hablar means to speak.
Inglés means English. Note that it is not capitalized unless it is at the beginning of the sentence (in other words, it is not simply capitalized just because it is a proper noun, like it is in English)

do you speak english in spanish

Remember, if you just ask “do you speak English?” in English, most people will probably get the gist, regardless of which language they speak.

“Excuse me, do you speak English?” in Spanish

Perdón, habla usted inglés?

“Does anyone here speak English?” in Spanish?

Alguien de aquí habla inglés ?

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