com estàs?
“com estàs?” — how are you? in Valencian. Phrase, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. Built on estar — a question about how you are right now, not about life in general. In a live sentence: “Hola, com estàs?” — Hi, how are you? One of 8 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | com estàs? |
| Translation | how are you? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
Built on estar — a question about how you are right now, not about life in general
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Hola, com estàs?Hi, how are you?
Nearby words: greetings and goodbyes
Every conversation starts here, and so does every first impression: say hello in the local language and you stop being a stranger in about a second.
- holahithe h is silent: comes out OH-la
- bon diagood morningLiterally good day. Before a masculine noun bo shrinks to bon: bon dia, bon cafè
- bona vespradagood afternoonSaid after lunch. Vesprada is feminine, so it takes bona, not bon. A word of its own: the central norm says bona tarda
- bona nitgood nightBoth a late-evening greeting and a wish before sleep — like the Spanish buenas noches
- adéugoodbyeFrom a Déu, to God — the same road Spanish adiós traveled. The everyday parting word
- fins arasee you soonLiterally until now — a goodbye for someone you expect to see again the same day
- què tal?how's it going?Literally what such. Lighter and shorter than com estàs? — it works with anyone
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “greetings and goodbyes”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “how are you?” in Valencian?
Built on estar — a question about how you are right now, not about life in general
- How do you say “how's it going?” in Valencian?
Literally what such. Lighter and shorter than com estàs? — it works with anyone
- How do you say “see you soon” in Valencian?
Literally until now — a goodbye for someone you expect to see again the same day
- How do you say “goodbye” in Valencian?
From a Déu, to God — the same road Spanish adiós traveled. The everyday parting word
- How do you say “good night” in Valencian?
Both a late-evening greeting and a wish before sleep — like the Spanish buenas noches
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “how are you?” in Valencian?
«com estàs?» In a live sentence: “Hola, com estàs?” — Hi, how are you? Phrase, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Built on estar — a question about how you are right now, not about life in general. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.