Currently, smart speakers are extremely important in the field of technology and therefore, in the daily lives of their users.
They offer the facility to execute a voice search on the Internet through a smartphone or some other smart device.
In this regard, one of the most recognized smart speakers is Amazon’s voice assistant, known as Alexa.
Which, probably, has already infiltrated your home, your travels and even your work considering that you can interact with her from the Amazon Echo or Amazon Fire TV.
If you want to know more about Alexa & its best commands available, you’ve come to the right place.
Since, in view of the fact that these are expanding very quickly around the world, it is valuable to have them at hand to simplify the development of your day to day life.
What are Alexa commands and what are they for in Amazon’s voice assistant?
Also identified as “Alexa’s voice commands”, these can be defined as a series of phrases and/or type directives, from which users can interact with Amazon’s artificial intelligence.
Therefore, once one of these commands is pronounced, it will be possible to trigger the execution of certain actions.
It is important not to confuse the commands of the Amazon device with the Alexa Skills.
In view of the fact that the latter are applications created by third parties for Amazon’s digital assistant. wich include different functionalities.
On the other hand, as we have indicated, the commands are simply keywords that activate the functions of these Skills.
What can I do & what can’t I do with Amazon’s smart speaker commands?
In general, the voice commands of Amazon’s virtual assistant allow you to perform different actions.
In principle, these are based on several types of questions that you can ask the smart speaker in order to get the most out of it.
They range from the most common and essential, to the much more advanced.
You should also keep in mind that it even supports several ways of asking the same question.
Therefore, to define what is possible to do with Alexa commands, it will be necessary to categorize all the content in different sections.
Thanks to that, it allows you to get information around news and current affairs and additionally, you can use them to perform local searches, make purchases, manage lists, schedule reminders, play music, perform calculations and even send commands to compatible Amazon devices.
However, it is also appropriate to know what are the things that can not be executed, in any way, with this voice assistant through its commands available in English.
This presents certain limitations with respect to the controls of your smart home devices and also in relation to news, traffic and weather updates.
So, you can’t ask Alexa to do specific things, like playing a podcast, for example.
So, you have to stick to everyday actions that she only accepts through her commands.
List of the best Alexa commands to get the most out of your Echo device
So, in order for you to get the most out of your Amazon device and run Alexa correctly, without getting negative results, it is very important to know what are the best commands you can use with it.
Therefore, here are the most relevant ones so far:
To get news, time and weather information
This series of commands will provide you with all the news of the day, both general and sports. In addition to that, they also provide relevant weather data around the clock.
Command | Function |
| Alexa, good morning | It will say good morning and then show you all the information of your day, which you have configured in your routine |
| Alexa, what is the news of the day? | Delivers the complete news summary, taking into account the media you have configured in the application |
| Alexa, how did The Cubs do? | It will tell you the last results of the team that you express in the question, as well as the next matches that it has |
| Alexa, what are the league standings? | It will tell you the ranking of the NFL or other such sports competitions |
| Alexa, update me on my sports teams | It updates you on the results of the teams you set as favorites |
| Alexa, what’s the weather like? | To know the temperature and the weather in your city and the forecast for the rest of the day |
| Alexa, what is the weather like in London? | It tells you the temperature and the weather in the city you tell it, as well as the forecast for the rest of the day |
| Alexa, is it going to rain this weekend? | You can ask it if it is going to be sunny or rainy and it will tell you the answer related to your location |
| Alexa, is it going to rain this weekend in New York? | To ask you if it is going to rain or be sunny in a specific city |
| Alexa, what is the weather going to be like in Scotland | In this case, when you ask it this way for a country, it will ask you to specify the city and once you answer that, it will tell you |
| Alexa, what time is it? | Tells you the current time |
| Alexa, what time is it in Paris? | It tells you what time it is in the city you tell it |
To create and manage all your lists
Directly from the Amazon Echo, Alexa offers you the possibility to make and manage your lists without any requirement to have to resort to a 3rd party application.
You can even synchronize these to-do lists or pending purchases with your smartphone to consult them from there.
Command | Function |
| Alexa, add picking up the trash to my to-do list | Using the term “pick up trash” or whatever you tell it to add to the to-do list, which comes preconfigured in Alexa. |
| Alexa, add tomatoes to my shopping list | Add the term tomatoes or whatever you tell her to the shopping list, one of the preconfigured ones there |
| Alexa, create a list | To start the process of creating a list. It will ask you for the name and what you want to add |
| Alexa creates a list with the name XX | Using XX as any term, you will create a list with the name you want |
| Alexa, add things in the list XX | By changing XX to the name of one of your lists, you initiate the process of adding something to that list and Alexa will ask you what you want to add |
| Alexa, add [Thing] in the list XX | By changing XX to the name of one of your lists, you add the thing you have told her to that particular list |
| Alexa, what do I have in my shopping list: | Informs you about the items saved in the shopping list. If there is nothing, it will tell you that it is empty |
| Alexa, what do I have in my to-do list? | Tells you the items saved in the task list, which is also a preset |
| Alexa, which is in the XX | By changing XX to the name of a list you have created, the wizard will tell you what’s inside |
| Alexa, lists | With this, it will tell you which lists you have created |
To perform local searches
As you can set up your zip code in Amazon’s voice assistant in order to make searches related to the places near where you live, it will be possible to manage them very easily.
Command | Function |
| Alexa, look for a nearby pharmacy | One of the main searches that starts with the zip code you have configured and tells you which pharmacies are closest |
| Alexa, what restaurants are nearby? | This is the second formula to search for restaurants. Based on the zip code you have configured, it tells you the most recognized nearby restaurants |
| Alexa, where is a post office nearby? | It takes care of informing you about nearby post offices. You can try formulas with other locations like cinemas, bars and more types of establishments |
| Alexa, what movies are playing near me? | In addition to searching for specific movie theatres, you can also use this command to find out the lineup of movies playing near you |
| Alexa, what are the opening hours of the Guggenheim Museum? | To get information about the opening hours of the establishment you are asking about |
| Alexa, what sci-fi movies are on at the theater? | To search for movies near you by selecting them according to their genre |
| Alexa, what movies are in theaters tomorrow? | Requests can also be for the next few days |
| Alexa, recommend a Chinese restaurant | With the zip code you have configured, it tells you the top-rated establishments. You can choose several types of establishments |
To set reminders, alarms and calendars
One of the biggest advantages of Alexa is that it has systems of reminders, alarms and calendars that can help you, remarkably, to remind you of everything you should do.
Command | Function |
| Alexa, set an alarm | Used to start the process of setting the alarm and thus, Alexa will ask you for the time |
| Alexa, set an alarm for 7 am | It is in charge of setting an alarm for the next day at the time you tell it. If it is a morning alarm, it will ask you if you also want to set it for the rest of the weekdays |
| Alexa, wake me up at 8 a.m. with music | Set an alarm with music and if you are listening to something it will set you up with music from that artist, using the music service you have set up, by default |
| Alexa, wake me up at 8 a.m. with David Bowie music | It will set the alarm with the music of the artist that you indicate, also using the music service that you have configured |
| Alexa, what alarms do I have? | Tells you the alarms you have configured there |
| Alexa, cancel all my alarms | Of course, cancel all your set alarms |
| Alexa, postpone… | If you don’t want to cancel your alarms, you can snooze them to get that extra five minutes of sleep you want |
| Alexa, set a reminder | Start scheduling a reminder. But first, it will ask you what the reminder is for and then when you prefer to remind it |
| Alexa, tell me my reminders | It will tell you your next reminders |
| Alexa, remind me to take out the garbage at 7 p.m. | Set a reminder by telling her all the information. You can also do it without specifying the time or the topic to remind and Alexa will ask you for it immediately |
| Alexa, delete reminder | It will delete the only reminder you have and if there are several, it will ask you which one you want to delete |
| Alexa, set a timer for 2 minutes | It will alert you when the time you have requested so |
| Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes for the soup | In addition to creating the timers, you can also name them to distinguish them in case you use several |
| Alexa, add an event on my calendar | You start the whole process to add an event to the calendar and you will be asked for the name of the event, as well as the day and time |
| Alexa, what do I have on my calendar? | To inform you about the last four events you have in your calendar. When finished, it asks you if you want to know more |
| Alexa, include an event tomorrow in my calendar | You add an event the next day or the specific day you tell her and you will only have to specify the time and the name of the event |
| Alexa, what do I have on my calendar today? | It tells you the events added to the calendar, that you have today or the specific day that you tell it |
For music and audio
To get more out of your Amazon Echo with Alexa, it offers you several controls with which you can play music with different services and even play ambient sounds, listen to the radio and read books (turning them into audiobooks).
Command | Function |
| Alexa, play music by the Beatles | It will start playing, randomly, songs from the band you tell it to on Amazon Music or Spotify; whichever service you have configured |
| Alexa put Beatles music on Spotify | Play, randomly, the songs of the band you tell it to on, the service you specify |
| Alexa, play party music | In case you have Amazon Music as a service, by default, it will play a party music station. If you have Spotify, it will search for a playlist with a similar name |
| Alexa, play rock | On Amazon Music as the default service, it will play you a rock music station or whatever genre of music you ask it to play. If you have Spotify, it will locate a playlist with a similar name |
| Alexa, play Queen | You can ask her for the music of a specific artist and she will offer you random tracks |
| Alexa, play “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen | You can ask her for the specific songs to listen to |
| Alexa, play the disc [DiscName] | With this, it will search in the music service you have preconfigured to play the given disc |
| Alexa, play my David Bowie playlist | It puts you a playlist you have with the name you tell it, in this case, David Bowie |
| Alexa, what song is this? | While you’re listening to music, you can also ask her for the exact song you’re listening to |
| Alexa, previous | Skip to the previous track |
| Alexa, next | Skip to the next song |
| Alexa, play Virgin Radio | With this place the radio station that you request in the service you have configured to listen to the radio |
| Alexa, play “Joe Rogan” | You can also ask her to set your favorite podcasts |
| Alexa, read the book “Animal Farm” | In case you have the book purchased for Kindle, Alexa will read it to you with her robotic voice |
| Alexa, play me the sound of a thunderstorm | If you want to hear soothing sounds like rain or a thunderstorm, Alexa can also play them |
| Alexa, resume | Audio playback resumes |
| Alexa, stop | Stop playback |
| Alexa, volume down | To lower speaker volume |
| Alexa, increase volume | Volume up of the speaker |
To make purchases with Alexa
Both the Amazon Echo and Alexa, are native products of one of the most recognized online stores around the world, that is, Amazon and for this, it was very valuable to include command that can help users to make purchases.
Which saves you from having to access your mobile or computer.
Command | Function |
| Alexa, I want to buy | It will immediately ask you what you are looking for and provide you with the results for the term you specify |
| Alexa, I want to buy technology | If you want me to search for specific types of products |
| Alexa, I need to buy shoes | It will give you the first two results that appear on Amazon with the term you told it |
| Alexa, buy iPhone X | If you tell it a specific product, Alexa will look it up so you can buy it quickly |
| Alexa, how is my purchase going | Tells you when your Amazon orders arrive, both from your Echo and from the website |
| Alexa, how’s my basket | Tells you all the products added to your shopping cart |
To ask questions about calculations and general information
If you need to make use of a dictionary, calculator or quick encyclopedia, Alexa is also the best solution for you.
It allows you to make use of various commands to ask general information questions of interest, look up meanings, translate sentences, do mathematical calculations both simple and compound, etc.
Command | Function |
| Alexa, how old is Tom Cruise. | To ask for the age of celebrities and in the answer, it will also tell you the date of birth, for more information |
| Alexa, who is John Lennon? | Ideal when you want to get information about famous people, both living and deceased |
| Alexa, when did Edgar Alan Poe die? | It is also possible to ask you other specific data of well-known characters |
| Alexa, how old is Julia Roberts? | When asking about some famous people you can also find some easter eggs like Julia Roberts |
| Alexa, when did man get to the moon? | You can ask her for the date on which relevant historical events happened |
| Alexa, how far away is the Moon? | It will tell you distances related to astronomy |
| Alexa, how to say “Good evening” in Spanish | You can ask him to translate words into the language you need |
| Alexa, what does Sempiterno mean? | To use the assistant as a particular dictionary. Thus, it works by telling you the various meanings that the same word can have |
| Alexa, how far away is Norway | It tells you the distance in the car and a straight line from your location, which will depend on the zip code you have configured |
| Alexa, how many inhabitants does Iceland have? | To obtain various types of data about some countries, such as their population, information about the anthem, the flag or any patriotic symbol |
| Alexa, play the French anthem | You can ask her to play an anthem for you. For which, turn to Amazon Music or Spotify |
| Alexa, how long is the Thames River? | To know the length of the rivers you want to know |
| Alexa, how high is Mount Etna? | You can ask her about the height of any mountain |
| Alexa, what time is sunset? | Tells you the time of sunset in your area |
| Alexa, what time is sunrise? | It tells you the time of sunrise where you are |
| Alexa, what is the square root of 99? | To concretize usual mathematical operations |
| Alexa, what is three plus seven times two? | Supports compound mathematical questions. But it is advisable to be careful because it doesn’t always understand you the way you want it to. Therefore, we recommend you start by multiplying seven by two and then add three, for example. |
| Alexa, how many dollars are 82 euros | It has the ability to do currency conversions |
| Alexa, how many miles is 10 kilometers | You can ask it to perform conversions in other types of units, such as distance, e.g. |
| Alexa, how many days until summer? | It is possible to ask you questions regarding the calendar. Such as how much time is left until summer, next Christmas, Halloween or other specific dates or holidays |
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