To write an email in Spanish, open a formal message with Estimado or Estimada followed by a colon, use usted throughout, and close with Atentamente or Saludos cordiales. Informal emails open with Hola and a comma, and close with Un saludo or Un abrazo. Your greeting and your final sign-off must sit at the same level of formality.

If you are an English-speaking professional or learner writing business emails or everyday messages in Spanish, that answer will carry you through most correspondence. What it will not do is stop you sounding foreign, and after twenty years of reading emails written by my corporate clients I can tell you those are two different problems.

Spanish email etiquette depends heavily on register in ways English often does not, so small choices affect how professional, polite, and natural you sound to native speakers. Below, you will see how to choose greetings and sign-offs, when to use usted or tú, what to put in opening and closing lines, how subject lines and signatures are usually formatted, which mistakes to avoid, and examples of both formal and informal emails.

The mistake almost every English speaker makes

I host professionals in my home in Menorca for immersion weeks, which means I read their real work emails at my kitchen table before they hit send. The same error surfaces again and again, and it is not the one people brace for. My students arrive worried about sounding too casual. In practice, they are far too formal.

Here is how it happens. Someone learns that Spanish business correspondence carries a more formal tone than English, which is true, so they reach for the most formal option available every single time. They write Estimado Sr. García: and close with Atentamente to a colleague they email four times a week. A Spaniard reading that assumes something has gone wrong, because that register belongs to a first approach to a government office or a letter of complaint, not to a Tuesday question about a delivery date.

The reason this trips up even strong Spanish speakers is that formality in Spanish does not map onto the same scale as English. Across Spain, most informal communication at work has migrated to WhatsApp, so the emails that remain skew formal by default. That makes the formal end of the scale crowded, and it makes the distinctions inside that range much finer than the ones you navigate in English. Reading those distinctions correctly is the actual essential skill here, and it is precisely what the phrase lists never teach.

So treat the tables below as your vocabulary, then read the “when to use it” column harder than the translation column. That column is where the judgement lives.

How do you start an email in Spanish?

Your greeting fixes the register for everything downstream, so choose the appropriate greeting first and make the rest of the email agree with it. These formal greetings and informal openings cover almost every situation you will meet.

One detail in that table can immediately reveal whether someone writes naturally in Spanish or is following English conventions: the punctuation after the greeting. In Spanish correspondence, greetings are followed by a colon, both in formal and informal contexts: Estimado señor: or Hola, Marta:. English speakers often use a comma instead, transferring the English convention into Spanish. Native Spanish speakers notice this mistake immediately, even if they do not mention it.

The second detail is Querido and Querida. Every dictionary offers “dear” as the direct translation, which is exactly the trap. In real use those words carry genuine warmth, so Querida Ana: to a new client lands roughly the way “Dear Ana” lands in English. I once had a student, a very capable finance director, send Querida to a Spanish bank manager she had never met, and she could not understand why the reply came back noticeably cooler. Reserve those words for people you would give two kisses or hug.

Professional titles deserve a note too, because they behave differently across Spanish speaking countries. In Mexico and much of Central America, Estimado Licenciado Ramírez: or Estimada Doctora Salas: reads as normal courtesy. In Spain, we lean on them far less, and defaulting to them will make you sound stiff to a Spanish reader.

What do you write after the greeting?

Both Spanish and English emails often begin with a brief pleasantry before moving to the main purpose. In professional contexts, that opening line should keep a polite tone and use formal language when you are writing to someone as usted. Expressions such as Espero que estés bien and I hope you’re well are common in both languages. However, the choice depends on the relationship, tone and context; going straight to the point is not necessarily rude or cold in either language. A short opening line can simply make the message sound warmer and more personal.

Here are some useful phrases for both formal and informal situations:

Espero que se encuentre bien is the phrase I put in front of my online business Spanish groups in their first session, because it opens more professional emails in Spain than any other line. Learn it before you learn anything else on this page.

Adjunto deserves the same attention. My students reach for a direct translation of “attached” and produce something a native speaker would never write, when adjunto does the work cleanly in both registers.

How do you end an email in Spanish?

This is the section most people came here for, and it is where the register error does the most damage, because your closing phrase is the last thing your reader carries away.

If you take one line from this article, take this one. Un saludo is the workhorse of Spanish professional email, and it appears in perhaps seven out of every ten messages I send. My clients consistently under-use it because no textbook flags it as the everyday default, so they oscillate between Atentamente and nothing at all. Saludos cordiales covers you whenever you hesitate, and Atentamente should feel like a deliberate decision rather than a reflex. By contrast, informal sign offs such as Un abrazo or Besos belong to close personal relationships and do not fit professional Spanish emails.

In Spanish business emails, email greetings and closings follow paired conventions, so a closing formula such as Saludos cordiales, Un cordial saludo or Atentamente is normally followed by a comma. The sender’s name then appears on a new line without another comma. This convention is broadly similar to standard English email formatting.

In Spanish:

Saludos cordiales, Mónica Romero

In English:

Kind regards, Monica Romero

How about a polilte closing line in Spanish?

Before that sign off, Spanish expects a polite closing line with polite expressions; these common phrases help maintain a respectful tone in formal messages. These are the ones worth memorising.

Quedo a su disposición is the single phrase that moves my clients from sounding tentative to sounding established, and I teach it in week one for exactly that reason.

Should you use usted or tú?

Your pronoun choice runs through every verb and possessive in the email, so an error in line three quietly undoes a perfect greeting in line one. Your choice depends on whether you are writing in Spanish formally or Spanish informally.

Formal pronouns are your starting position with anyone new, and you hold them until your counterpart moves first. In Spain that move comes quickly, often in the very first reply, and when it comes you should switch with them in your next message. Staying on usted after they have offered tú reads as keeping your distance on purpose, which is rarely what you intend.

Consistency matters more than the initial choice. Mixing the two inside one email is the clearest signal that Spanish is not your first language, and it happens most often when someone lifts a useful phrase from a website written in the other register and drops it into their draft. I see this weekly. Check your verb endings and possessives before sending, because su belongs with usted and tu belongs with tú.

Latin America adds one wrinkle worth knowing if you work across regions. Formality holds longer there than in Spain, so the switch arrives later, and in Argentina and Uruguay you will meet vos in place of tú. Several of my corporate clients write to spanish speaking colleagues in Madrid and Mexico City in the same afternoon, and my advice to them is always the same: default to usted, then let each counterpart set the pace.

How is an email different from a formal letter?

Competitors tend to blur these together, but the conventions genuinely differ: when writing formal emails, a formal business email follows lighter conventions than letter writing, and using letter conventions in an email makes you sound like you are writing from 1995.

The practical takeaway is that email tolerates one step less formality than a letter covering the same subject, which is standard in professional contexts. Formal correspondence on paper still uses Le saluda atentamente, while the equivalent email would usually settle on Saludos cordiales.

What makes a good subject line in Spanish?

Keep the subject line concise and informative, and capitalise only the first word plus any proper nouns, because Spanish does not use title case the way English does. That single rule fixes most of the subject lines I correct.

Add URGENTE only when it genuinely applies. Spanish business culture takes the label seriously, so spending it on a routine request costs you credibility the next time you need it, and I have watched clients burn that credit inside a fortnight.

How do you write your signature in Spanish?

Your signature closes the email, and Spanish professionals expect the full block rather than just a name. Include your name, your professional title, your company and your contact details.

Mónica Romero Camps

Directora de Formación

Spanish Express

Tel: +34 600 00 00 00

hola@ejemplo.com

Job titles resist direct translation more than people expect, and getting yours wrong undercuts an otherwise polished email.

Look yours up once, confirm it with a native speaker if you can, and remember that title conventions vary across many Spanish-speaking countries before you reuse it everywhere.

A complete formal email

Asunto: Solicitud de presupuesto para formación en español

A continuación, encontrará la Spanish version de un correo formal completo.

Estimada Sra. Navarro:

Espero que se encuentre bien. Mi nombre es James Whitfield y me pongo en contacto con usted para solicitarle un presupuesto para un curso de español destinado a seis empleados de nuestro departamento comercial.

Nos interesa un programa de veinte horas, preferiblemente en horario de tarde, que comience en septiembre. Adjunto encontrará una breve descripción del nivel actual del grupo.

Quedo a la espera de su respuesta y a su disposición para cualquier consulta.

Saludos cordiales,

James Whitfield

A complete informal email

Asunto: Fechas para la reunión de septiembre

Hola, Miguel:

Espero que todo vaya bien. Te escribo sobre las fechas de la reunión que comentamos el jueves.

¿Te vendría bien el 12 o el 15? A mí me van bi en las dos, así que dime cuál prefieres, por favor.

Gracias por tu ayuda.

Un saludo,

James

Read those two side by side and you can trace the register through every line, from greeting punctuation to pronouns to closing phrase to sign off. That coherence is the whole target, and it is perfectly acceptable to keep both examples open beside your inbox until it becomes automatic.

Five mistakes I correct most often

None of these are difficult. All of them are habits, which is why they survive years of otherwise excellent Spanish skills, and why I still correct them in students who read novels in Spanish comfortably.

FAQs

What is email called in Spanish?

Correo electrónico is the full term, and in the Spanish language it’s the standard term, often shortened to correo in daily use. Email and mail are also widely understood and used in business contexts across Latin America.

How do you say “send an email” in Spanish?

Enviar un correo or mandar un correo. To reply is responder or contestar, and to forward is reenviar.

How do you say “sincerely” in Spanish?

Atentamente is the closest Spanish equivalent to “Yours sincerely” and belongs in genuinely formal communication such as complaints, applications and official letters.

How do you say “best regards” in a Spanish email?

Saludos cordiales is the standard professional equivalent and works in almost any formal context in Spain. Cordialmente carries the same weight and appears more often in Latin America.

How do you close an informal email in Spanish?

Use informal language with friends or familiar colleagues, and keep closings like Un saludo, Saludos, and Un abrazo for informal situations only. Nos vemos pronto works when you will actually see them soon.

How do you say “love” at the end of a letter in Spanish?

Con cariño is the usual equivalent for family and close friends, and Un beso or Besos suits people you are very close to. Neither belongs in professional correspondence.

What are five greetings I can use in a Spanish email?

Estimado, Estimada, Hola, Buenos días and A quien corresponda are a few examples of greetings you can use depending on register, and they will cover nearly every situation, from a formal first approach to a quick note to a colleague.

How do you say “email signature” in Spanish?

Firma refers to the signature block itself, and firma electrónica means a digital signature.

How do you ask someone for their email in Spanish?

¿Tiene correo electrónico? using usted, or ¿Tienes correo electrónico? using tú. To ask for the address directly, use ¿Cuál es tu/su correo electrónico?

Can I just translate my English email into Spanish?

You can, and it explains why so many emails read as foreign: translation may help with language skills, but in professional contexts it often misses the register. Machine translation handles vocabulary well and register badly, so it will hand you Querido for “dear” and Atentamente for “regards” without knowing the first runs too warm and the second too stiff. Write directly in Spanish where you can. Where you cannot, check the greeting, the pronouns and the sign off by hand before sending, because those three carry the tone, and practicing whole emails, including more complex sentences, builds business Spanish faster than translating line by line.

Work on your business Spanish with me

I teach business Spanish online and help learners write professional Spanish emails, and I host professionals in my home in Menorca for immersion weeks where we work on the real correspondence they send.

If your emails are technically correct but you sense they land wrong, the gap is almost always register, which supports clearer communication with Spanish speakers in professional contexts, and it closes faster than you would expect. Those weeks run through the Spanish Homestay Immersion Program (SHIP) with Spanish Express, so you are not sitting in a classroom. You stay with me, we edit your drafts in the morning, and then we take the language into the day, at the market, with neighbors, over lunch, switching between usted and tú as each conversation asks for it.

You can also explore more cultural immersion stories here:

👉 Read Stories of Our Past Visitors Here

For personalised guidance and programme details, you can contact our founder directly:

Mónica Romero
Founder & Director, Spanish Express

📞 Phone / WhatsApp: +44 7903 867 894

📧 Email: monicaromero@spanishexpress.co.uk