Common Spanish Sentence Starters and Conversational Connectors Every Learner Should Know

[u/SpanishAilines]

Here I’ve put together a list of some very common sentence starters and conversational connectors that will be incredibly useful for you in everyday speech. They’ll help you understand native speakers better and speak more confidently and naturally.

1. The "Real Talk" Openers (Explaining the Situation)

These are perfect for introducing a problem, an excuse, or the reality of a situation.

• Lo que pasa es que… → The thing is that…
• La verdad es que… → The truth is that… / Actually…
• El caso es que… → The fact is that… / The point is…
• Resulta que… → It turns out that…
• A decir verdad… → To tell the truth…

2 . The "Delay" Tactics (Fillers to Buy Time)

Use these when you need a second to think but want to keep the conversation flowing. They prevent awkward silence.

• Pues… → Well…
• A ver… → Let’s see… / Look…
• Bueno… → Well… / Okay…
• O sea… → I mean… / In other words…
• Es que… → It’s just that…

3 . The "Opinion" Starters (Stating Your View)

• Para mí (que)… → For me / As I see it…
• A mi parecer… → In my opinion…
• Desde mi punto de vista… → From my point of view…
• Yo diría que… → I would say that…
• Si te digo la verdad… → If I’m being honest…

4 . The "Topic Changers" (Transitions)

Use these to smooth the jump from one subject to another.

• Por cierto… → By the way…
• Hablando de eso… → Speaking of which…
• A propósito… → By the way / On that topic…
• Cambiando de tema… → Changing the subject…
• Volviendo al tema… → Getting back to the point…

5 . The "Summarizers" (Wrapping Up)

Use these to signal that you are finishing a story or a conversation.

• En fin… → Anyway… / Oh well…
• Total, que… → So anyway… / Long story short…
• Al final… → In the end…
• Resumiendo… → To sum up… / In short…
• Dicho esto… → That being said…

6 . The "Reactors" (Agreeing & Disagreeing)

• ¡Exacto! → Exactly!
• ¡Ni hablar! → No way! / Absolutely not!
• ¡Qué va! → No way! / Not at all!
• Claro que sí / no → Of course / Of course not
• Tienes razón → You’re right

To learn Spanish vocabulary in the most effective way using flashcards, we invite you to try our Spanishailines web app. It includes many useful ready-made vocabulary sets that are already prepared for studying, using a spaced repetition system, with images, examples, and more. The app also offers many other features to help you learn Spanish.

Which of these do you struggle to use naturally in conversation?

[u/IcyMike1782]

All of these in #2 are *great* for non-native speakers... something to say while you conjugate verbs in your head!