Spanish Phrases For Talking on the Telephone

Spanish Phrases With Online Audio

It's true that talking on the telephone is trickier than face-to-face conversations because you can't see the person you're talking to. On the phone you rely only on tone of voice and the words spoken -- you don't have facial gestures and body language to assist you in understanding.



But talking on the phone is great practice, and you should aim to do regular phone conversations in Spanish. Here are several common phrases with native-spoken Spanish audio to help make phone conversations easier for you.

An advantage to talking on the phone is since they can't see you, you can have a lot of notes in front of you to make the conversation easier.



The audio file below contains all the Spanish phrases on this page recorded by a native Spanish speaker.

As you look at and learn these Spanish phrases, listen to the audio file below to hear the exact way the phrases are pronounced by a native speaker of Spanish.

Remember that you can download the mp3 audio file if you want to listen and learn in your car or with a portable mp3 player.

All the Spanish audio for the phrases on this page is in this file. Just click and listen.

Click here for telephone-phrases audio recorded by a native Spanish speaker.

Spanish phrases for talking on the telephone

Hola -o- Bueno

Hello

¿Quien habla? -o- ¿De parte de quien?

Who's calling?

Saying ¿De parte de quien? is a little more formal than ¿Quien habla?

Habla Guillermo

This is Guillermo speaking.

When someone asks you Who's calling, this is the way you answer.

Un momento.

Just a minute.

You can also add politeness by saying un momento, por favor.

Quisiera hablar con Guillermo.

I'd like to speak with Guillermo.

You can also say can I speak with... -- Puedo hablar con...

No esta en casa.

He's not here.

For He's not here, you'll also hear: No se encuentra en casa.

To say he's out or he's not here, I've also had people tell me "Esta en la calle"--literally he's in the street.

¿Puedo dejarle un recado?

Can I leave a message for him?

Or, if the person on the other end of the phone wants to ask if you want to leave a message the will say: "¿Quieres delarle un recado?

Note also that to say message the word mensaje may be substituted for recado

¿Sabe Usted cuando regresa?

Do you know when he will return?

Or, use the verb sabes if you're familiar with the person on the phone.

Yo le hablo para atras luego.

I'll call him back later.

Use this if you have no message to leave.

¿Puede hablar mas despacio?

Can you speak more slowly?

Talking on the phone can be difficult so you might want to have this phrase ready to go.

¿Se encuentra Guillermo?

Is Guillermo home?

This is another way you will hear people ask if someone is home.

Estoy ocupado, ¿puedo hablarte mas tarde?

I'm busy, can I call you back later?

Use this phrase if you can't talk at the moment someone calls you on the phone.