qué tal VS como estás

Question 1

Qué tal?

Answer 1

Qué means what, while tal is of Latin origin and is used to refer to the quality of things. When the words are used together, qué tal is used to ask about the state of people or things.
Qué tal and cómo estás can generally be used interchangeably. The main nuance is that qué tal is slightly more informal than cómo estás.

1) Qué tal: Hello!, Hi!
This is the most informal usage of qué tal in Spanish, where we simply use it as a quick greeting. In this sense, it’s basically an equivalent to hola.

2) Qué tal: What’s up?, How’s it going?
It’s almost rhetorical, though the other person can respond with a quick reply. A quick greeting between friends who see each other regularly.
¿Qué tal? / Todo bien.

3) Qué tal: How is… going?
We’re getting into questions where we’re looking for a considered response. We can use this question to ask how things are or were, in the present or the past.
In terms of usage, we start our question with qué tal, and then follow with whatever we’re interested hearing about. This can be a noun if we’re asking about people or about a specific activity:
¿Qué tal el trabajo hoy? – How was work today?
¿Qué tal las vacaciones? – How was your vacation?
¿Qué tal tus hijos? – How are your kids doing?

We can also follow qué tal with a conjugated verb to ask about how something is or was going:
¿Qué tal estás hoy? – How are you doing today?
¿Qué tal me veo? – How do I look?
¿Qué tal saliste en el examen? – How did you make out in the test?

4) Qué tal si…: What if…, How about…
This use of qué tal differs from the previous ones, as it’s used to suggest a situation for the near future. With this construction we follow qué tal with si, meaning if, with the whole expression taken as a single phrase to introduce the proposition. Common translations for qué tal si…? are what if…? or how about…?
¿Qué tal si vamos al cine esta noche? – How about we go to the cinema tonight?
¿Qué tal si el avión no llega nunca? – What if the plane never arrives?

Common responses:
Muy bien. Gracias por preguntar.
Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?
Todo bien. Gracias.
Más o menos.

Question 2

Cómo estás?

Answer 2

Cómo is the Spanish question word meaning how, while estás means are you (or you are) since it’s the tú conjugation for the verb estar.
Since the Spanish formal you conjugation of estar is usted está, the phrase becomes cómo está. Unlike cómo estás, where we never include the pronoun tú, in the formal version we sometimes include the pronoun: ¿cómo está usted?

Qué tal and cómo estás can generally be used interchangeably. The main nuance is that qué tal is slightly more informal than cómo estás. Stick with ¿cómo está usted? if you need to be formal.

Although qué tal and cómo estás are essentially asking the same thing, it’s still totally normal to use them both together! However, when we use both together, they’re always used in the same order: qué tal, then cómo estás.
Qué tal Pablito! ¿Cómo estás?
Hola Maria! ¿Qué tal? ¿Cómo estás?

Common responses:
Muy bien. Gracias por preguntar.
Bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?
Todo bien. Gracias.
Más o menos.