Hello!

How are you doing? I hope everything is going well.

Today I’d like to share how people in Mexico usually answer the phone.

The most common way to answer the phone is by saying ¡Bueno!(pronounced /bweh-noh/). There are other ways, of course, some people say ¡Diga! (pronounced /dee-gah/ or simply ¡Sí! (pronounced /see/).

Why do we say ¡Bueno! if bueno means good?

This goes back to when people check the telephone connection by asking if the connection was good/clear. That’s how ¡Bueno! became the standard phone greeting.

Nowadays almost everyone knows who is calling before picking up the phone, so the greeting is more personal, and most people use Hola + the name of the person.

Let’s see some examples:

• When we do not know who is calling

Translation

A: Hello!

B: Hello! Good afternoon! May I speak to Mrs. Fernández?

A: Good afternoon! This is she.

• When we know who is calling

Translation

A: Hi, mom! How are you doing?

B: Hi, sweetie. I’m very well, and you?

A: Very well, thanks…

As you may noticed, in Spanish, it’s common to double the greetings.

Other Spanish-speaking countries use ¡Aló! when answering the phone.

Have you ever heard someone answer the phone with ¡Bueno!? Now you know how to answer the phone like a Mexican.

See you next time!

Crédito de la foto de portada | Photo credit: Vinicius “amnx” Amano on Unsplash