nada especial, ¿y tú?
/ˈnada espeˈθjal i ˈtu/word by word
The English phrase "nothing much, what about you?" can be translated into Spanish as nada especial, ¿y tú?
This phrase is used as a conversational response to informal greetings such as ¿Qué pasa? (What's happening?) or ¿Qué tal? (How's it going?) to indicate that nothing interesting is currently happening.
Which one should you use?
While nada especial literally means "nothing special", it is the most natural conversational equivalent to the English filler "nothing much".
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase ¿y tú? is the informal way to ask "and you?" back to a single person.
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈnada espeˈθjal i ˈtu/
Did you know?
- The word nada has a surprising connection to the concept of birth. It stems from a Latin phrase meaning 'no born thing', originally implying that something was so non-existent it was as if it had never been born.
- While you might use ¿y tú? with friends, if you are speaking to a stranger or someone in authority, you must change it to ¿y usted? to remain polite. Using the informal version in a formal setting can seem rude.
- In many Spanish-speaking regions, if you want to sound even more casual than nada especial, you might respond with just nada or even a shrug. This is a common way to signal that your life is currently quite routine.
Examples in context
- No mucho, ¿y tú?Nothing much, what about you?
- – ¿Qué tal todo?
– Nada especial, ¿y tú?– How is everything?
– Nothing much, what about you?
Example conversation
Daniel and Sofia meet randomly on the street.
- Daniel¿Hola, Sofía! ¿Qué pasa?Hi, Sofia! What's up?
- SofíaHola, Daniel. Nada especial, ¿y tú?Hi, Daniel. Nothing much, what about you?
- DanielTodo bien, solo voy al cine.All good, I'm just going to the cinema.
- Sofía¿Ah sí? ¿Qué vas a ver?Oh really? What are you going to see?
