buenas tardes
/ˌbwenas ˈtaɾdes/
In Spanish, "have a good afternoon" is expressed as buenas tardes.
buenas tardes is a polite greeting or farewell used during the afternoon. While English speakers use "good afternoon" as both a greeting and a farewell, buenas tardes is most commonly used as a greeting upon arrival, though it can also function as a farewell. If you want to specifically express the wish "have a good afternoon" (as in "I hope you have a good afternoon") rather than just using the greeting, you can use que tenga una buena tarde. Other variations include que tenga una tarde agradable for "have a pleasant afternoon" or le deseo una buena tarde for "I wish you a good afternoon".
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to "good afternoons" because the noun tardes is plural.
Which one should you use?
In Spanish, tardes refers specifically to the period from noon until sunset, whereas noches is used for both evening and night.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Latin America, it is common to say que tengas una linda tarde to mean "have a lovely afternoon".
How does it change in a sentence?
In the phrase buenas tardes, both the adjective buenas and the noun tardes must be feminine and plural to agree with each other.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˌbwenas ˈtaɾdes/
Did you know?
- The phrase buenas tardes is often shortened to just buenas in casual settings to serve as a quick greeting for any time of day.
- The casual greeting buenas is likely a linguistic shortcut derived from the full phrase buenas tardes.
- In many Spanish-speaking cultures, the transition from buenas tardes to buenas noches happens much later than in English, often only when the sun has fully set or even after dinner.
Examples in context
- Adiós, que tenga muy buenas tardes.Goodbye, have a very good afternoon.
Example conversation
Lucía is leaving the office and saying goodbye to Daniel.
- LucíaYa me voy, Daniel. ¡Buenas tardes!I'm leaving now, Daniel. Have a good afternoon!
- DanielGracias, Lucía. Igualmente.Thanks, Lucía. You too.
- LucíaNos vemos mañana.See you tomorrow.
- DanielHasta mañana.Until tomorrow.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry buenas tardes, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries buenas, CC BY-SA 4.0.
