How do you say “Good afternoon” in Spanish?

Buenas tardes
Good afternoon

When do you say Good afternoon in Spanish in Spanish?

One interesting thing to note is that the concept of when afternoon actually begins is a little bit different in Spanish than it is in English. This can be a little bit confusing for people who are learning Spanish as a second language.

Perhaps a bit unfortunately for those who are struggling to learn when you start saying good afternoon in Spanish is less about the time of day and more about how dark it is outside it is typically considered commonly acceptable say Buenas Tablas from noon until sundown. That means that at 6 p.m. you could be saying buenas tardes or buenos noches depending on whether sunset was early or late that time of year.

Here’s an example to clarify this point:
When the sun sets at 5 PM, you could say “Buenas noches” at 6 PM, but if the sun won’t begin setting until after 9 PM, you would continue to say “Buenas tardes” even at 6 or 7 PM.

Keep in mind that tardes and noches are both feminine nouns, meaning you would word use the word Buenas. Dia, despite the “a” at the end, is a masculine noun, so you would use the word buenos.

After sunset you can use buenas noches as a greeting, not just a way of saying good night to somebody who is about to go to sleep. In English good night how’s the connotation of ending a conversation but it can very easily be used as a salutation in Spanish.

If you’re in doubt you can just say “Buenos Dias” or “Buen Dia”. both of these are pretty much acceptable from the moment you wake up until the end of the day. sometimes people also shorten it to just join “buenas”. That’s vague enough to keep you out of trouble in almost any circumstance. Regardless the most common informal greeting to use at any time of day is a basic hola as long as you know that you should be all set that said it’s nice to know how to mix up your Spanish salutations and greetings so it can’t hurt to familiarize yourself with how to say good afternoon as well.

Examples for how to use “good afternoon” in Spanish

Buenas tardes, Carlos.
Good afternoon, Charles.

Buenas tardes ¿cómo puedo ayudarlo?
Good afternoon, how may I help you?

Buenas tardes, amigo
Good afternoon, friend.

Good afternoon in Spanish (formal)

How do you formally say good afternoon in Spanish? Buenas tardes is already more formal than some alternative Spanish greetings, such as “hola”, “qué pasa”, or “qué hay de nuevo”. So that’s fine to use!

You may also enjoy these articles:
Car in Spanish
Spanish terms of endearment
How may I help you? in Spanish
I’m sorry in Spanish