How to Say Hello in Different Languages

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How to Say Hello in Different Languages



  • Afrikaans - haai (hello) pronounced Ha-i
  • Arabicالسلام عليكم(peace be upon you)pronounced asslamu alykom
  • Albanian - tungjatjeta pronounced To-ngyat-yeta it means have a long life or c'kemi (hi)
  • A'Leamona - tél nìdõ (good day) pronounced tehl-neye-doe
  • Arabic - subbah-el-kheir (good morning), masaa-el-khair (good evening): note that Kh is pronounced from the back of the throat. mArHAbA (Hello) pronounced Mar-ha-ba
  • Armenian - barev or parev
  • Australian - G'day (mostly informal but including strangers pronounced gu-day
  • Austrian - Grüßgott (formal, pronounced gree'assgott)/ Servus (Informal, said See-ahh-vass, not like the Latin word)
  • Azerbaijani - salam (hello) pronounced Sa-lam
  • Bahamashello (formal), hi or heyello (informal), what you sayin', Buyh? (very informal - slang)
  • Basque - kaixo (pronounced kai-show), egun on (morning; pronounced egg-un own), gau on (night; pronounced gow own)
  • Bavarian and Austrian German - grüß Gott (pronounced gruess gott), servus (informal; also means "goodbye"; pronounced zair-voos)
  • Bengalinamaskar (In West Bengal, India)
  • Bremnian - koali (pronounced kowalee)
  • Bulgarian - zdravei, zdraveite (to many), zdrasti (informal), Dobro utro (morning), Dobar den (day), Dobar vecher (evening)
  • Burmese - mingalarba
  • Cambodian (Khmer)- Sua s'dei (informal), Jum Reap Sour (formal), good morning, Arun Sua s'dei, good afternoon Tivea Sua s'dei, good evening Sayoan Sua s'dei, good night Reatrey Sua s'dei, good bye Lea Hoy (informal), Jum Reap Lea (formal)
  • Cape-Verdean Creole - oi, olá
  • Catalan - hola (pronounced o-la), bon dia (pronounced bon dee-ah)good morning, bona tarda (bona tahr-dah) good afternoon, bona nit (bona neet)good night. You can also say just "Bones (bo-nahs) to make it informal.
  • Chamorro - hafa adai (hello/what's up?), hafa? (informal), howzzit bro/bran/prim/che'lu? (informal), sup (informal)and all other English greetings
  • Chichewa - moni bambo! (to a male), moni mayi! (to a female). Muribwanji (moori-bwanji) is used often, as a generalized greeting to everyone.
  • Chinese - In both Cantonese and Mandarin, it is written as 你 好. Cantonese is nei ho or lei ho (pronounced nay ho or lay ho) and Mandarin is nǐ hǎo (remember the tones). In Mandarin, you can also say 早上好 (zǎo shàng hǎo) for "Good Morning."
  • Congo - mambo
  • Cree - Tansi (pronounced Dawnsay)
  • Croatian - bok (informal), dobro jutro (morning), dobar dan (day), dobra večer (evening), laku noć (night)
  • Czech - dobré ráno (until about 8 or 9 a.m.), dobrý den (formal), dobrý večer (evening), ahoj (informal; pronounced ahoy)
  • Danish - hej (informal; pronounced hey), god dag (formal), god aften (evening; formal), hejsa (very informal).
  • D'ni - shorah (peace)
  • Double Dutch - hutch-e-lul-lul-o (hello), gug-o-o-dud mum-o-rug-nun-i-nun-gug (good morning; formal), gug-o-o-dud a-fuf-tut-e-rug-nun-o-o-nun (good afternoon; formal), gug-o-o-dud e-vuv-e-nun-i-nun-gug (good evening; formal)
  • Dutch - hoi (very informal), hallo (informal), goedendag (formal)
  • English - hello (formal), hi (informal), hey (informal,)
  • Esperanto - saluton (formal), sal (informal)
  • Estonian - tere päevast" (good day), Tere hommikust (morning), Tere Õhtust (evening) Tere/tervist
  • Egyptian Arabic - Salaam Alekum'(sulam ulakume) (Goodbye) Ma Salaama (ma sulama) the "U" is pronounced its usual way(Example:up)
  • Fijian - 'Bula Uro' (Informal Hello) and 'Bula Vinaka' (Formal Hello) is pronounced 'Buh-la Vina-kah'
  • Finnish - hyvää päivää (formal), moi or hei (informal), moro (Tamperensis)
  • French - salut (informal; silent 't'), bonjour (formal, for daytime use; 'n' as a nasal vowel), bonsoir (good evening; 'n' is a nasal vowel), bonne nuit (good night). There is also "ça va", but this is more often used to mean "how are you?"
  • Gaelic - dia duit (informal; pronounced gee-ah ditch; literally "God be with you")
  • Georgian - gamardjoba
  • German - hallo (informal), Guten Tag (formal; pronounced gootan taag), Tag (very informal; pronounced taack).
  • Gujarati - Namaste,Namaskar
  • Greek - γεια σου (pronounced yah-soo; informal), γεια σας (formal)
  • Hausa - Ina kwaana? (How did you sleep? - informal) or Ina uni? (how's the day? - informal). Ina kwaanan ku? (formal) or Ina unin Ku (formal)
  • Hawaiian - aloha (pronounced ah-low-ha)
  • Hebrew - shalom (means "hello", "goodbye" and "peace"), hi (informal), ma kore? (very informal, literally means "whats happening" or "whats up")
  • Hindi - नमस्ते, namaste (pronounced na-mus-thei)
  • Hopi - Mike (just as you would pronounce the name short for Michael)
  • Hungarian, Magyar - jó napot (pronounced yoh naput; daytime; formal), szervusz (pronounced sairvoose; informal), szia (pronounced seeya; informal), or even heló, like english hello but a longer "o"
  • Icelandic - góðan dag (formal; pronounced gothan dahg), (informal; pronounced "hai")
  • Igbo - nde-ewo (pronounced enday aywo), nna-ewo (pronounced enna wo)
  • Indonesian - halo (hello), selamat pagi (morning), selamat siang (afternoon), selamat malam (evening)

  • Irish - "Dia duit" (pronounced "Deah Duit"; also means "God Be With You")
  • Italian - ciào (pronounced chow; informal; also means "goodbye"), buon giorno (pronounced bwohn geeornoh; good morning; formal), buon pomeriggio (pronounced bwohn pohmehreejeeoh; good afternoon; formal), buona sera (pronounced bbwoonah sehrah; good evening; formal)
  • Japanese - おはよう ございます ohayoou gozaimasu (pronounced o-ha-yo (go-zai-mass); good morning), こんにちは konnichi wa (pronounced kong-nee-chee-wa; daytime or afternoon), こんばんは konbanwa (pronounced kong-ban-wa; evening); もし もし moshi moshi (pronounced moh-shee moh-shee; when calling/answering the phone); どうも doumo (pronounced doh-moh; informal way of thanking/greeting, but means countless other things as well so only use when context makes sense)
  • Jibberish - huthegelluthego, h-idiguh-el l-idiguh-o (formal), h-diguh-i (informal), h-idiguh-ow a-diguh-re y-idigah-ou? (meaning "how are you?")
  • Jamaican(slang)- Yow Wah gwaan (pronounced wa-gwaan)
  • Kanien'kéha (Mohawk) - kwe kwe (pronounced gway gway)
  • Kannada - namaskara
  • Kazakh - Salem (hello), Kalay zhagday (How are you?)
  • Klingon - nuqneH? [nook-neck] (literally: "what do you want?")
  • Korean - 안녕하세요 ahn nyeong ha se yo (formal; pronouned ahn-yan-ha-say-yo), 안녕 ahn nyeong (informal; can also be used to mean "goodbye")(when calling/answering the phone"; 여보세요 "yeo-bo-sae-yo" (prounounced "yuh-boh-say-yoe")
  • Kurdishchoni, roj bahsh (day; pronounced rohzj bahsh)
  • Lao - sabaidee (pronounced sa-bai-dee)
  • Latin (Classical) - salve (pronounced sal-way; when talking to one person), salvete (pronounced sal-way-tay; when talking to more than one person), ave (pronounced ar-way; when talking to one person; when talking to someone respected), avete (pronounced ar-way-tay; when talking to more than one respected person)
  • Latvian - labdien, sveiki, chau (informal; pronounced chow).
  • Lingala - mbote
  • Lithuanian - laba diena (formal), labas, sveikas (informal; when speaking to a male), sveika (informal; when speaking to a female), sveiki (informal; when speaking to more than one person).
  • Lojban - coi
  • Luxembourgish - moïen (pronounced MOY-en)
  • Macedonian - Здраво (Zdravo; meaning Hello), Добро утро (Dobro utro; meaning Good morning), Добар ден (Dobar den; meaning Good day), Добро вечер (Dobro vecher; meaning Good evening)
  • Malayalam - namaskkaram
  • Malaysian - Selamat datang, which can also mean welcome (pronounced seh-la-mat dah-tan, the g is silent) or you could say apa khabar, which can also mean how are you (pronounced a-pa ka-bar)
  • Maldivian (Dhivehi) - kihineth (meaning "how" - the common way of greeting)
  • Maltese - merħba (meaning "welcome"), bonġu (morning), bonswa or il-lejl it-tajjeb (evening)
  • Maori - kia ora (kia o ra), tena koe, ata marie, morena (good morning)
  • Marathi - namaskar
  • Mongolian - sain baina uu? (pronounced saa-yen baya-nu; formal), sain uu? (pronounced say-noo; informal), ugluunii mend (morning; pronounced ohglohny mend), udriin mend (afternoon, pronounced ohdriin mend), oroin mend (evening; pronounced or-oh-in mend)
  • Nahuatl - niltze, hao
  • Navajo - ya'at'eeh (Hello or Good) (pronunciation dependant upon the tribe, or area of the reservation you are on)
  • Niuean - faka lofa lahi atu (formal) fakalofa (informal)
  • Neapolitan - cia, cha
  • Nepalbhasha - Jwajalapa, ज्वजलपा
  • Nepali - namaskar, namaste, k cha (informal), kasto cha
  • Northern German - moin moin
  • Northern Shoto - dumelang
  • Norwegian - hei ("hi"), hallo ("hello"), heisann ("hi there"), god morgen ("good morning"), god dag ("good day"), god kveld ("good evening").
  • Oshikwanyama - wa uhala po, meme? (to a female; response is ee), wa uhala po, tate? (to a male; response is ee) nawa tuu? (response is ee; formal), ongaipi? (meaning "how is it?"; informal)
  • Oromo(Afan Oromo) - asham (hi')akkam? (how are you?),nagaa (peace, peace be with u)
  • Palauan - alii (pronounced Ah-Lee)
  • Persian - salaam or do-rood (see note above - salaam is an abbreviation, the full version being as-salaam-o-aleykum in all Islamic societies)
  • Pig Latin - eyhay (informal), ellohay (formal), atswhay upay?
  • Polish - dzień dobry (formal), witaj (hello) cześć (hi, pronounced, "cheshch")
  • Portuguese - oi, boas, olá or alô (informal); bom dia or bons diasboa tardeboas tardes (good afternoon, used after noon or after the noon meal, until twilight); boa noite or boas noites (good evening and good night, used after twilight).
  • Punjabi - sat sri akal
  • Rajasthani (Marwari)- Ram Ram
  • Romanian - salut, buna dimineata (formal; morning) buna ziuabuna searaformal; evening), buna (usually when speaking to a female pronounced boo-nhuh)
  • Russian - Privet! pronounced as pree-vyet (informal), zdravstvuyteZDRA-stvooy-tyeh)
  • Samoan - talofa (formal), malo (informal)
  • Scanian - haja (universal), hallå (informal), go'da (formal), go'marengo'aften (evening)
  • Scottish, howzitgaun (informal, means "Hello, how are you?") hello
  • Senegal - salamaleikum
  • Serbian - zdravo, ćao (informal), dobro jutro (morning, pronounced dobro yutro), dobar dan (afternoon), dobro veče (pronounced dobro vetcheah evening), laku noć (night), do viđenja (see you soon)
  • Sinhala - a`yubowan (pronounced au-bo-wan; meaning "long live")kohomada? (ko-ho-ma-da meaning how are you?)
  • Slovak - dobrý deň (formal), ahoj (pronounced ahoy), čauchow) and dobrý (informal abbreviation)
  • Slovenianživjo (informal; pronounced zhivyo), dobro jutrodober dan (afternoon), dober večer (evening; pronounced doh-bear vetch-air)
  • South African English - hoezit (pronounced howzit; informal)
  • Spanish - hola (pronounced with a silent 'h': o-la), alo, qué ondakeh ondah), qué hay, (South America; very informal), qué pasa (Spain, informal), buenos días ("good morning"), buenas tardes (afternoon and early evening), buenas noches (late evening and night). These three forms can be made informal by saying "buenas". Also Qué Transakeh trahansa). Qué tál, meaning "what's up", pronounced "kay tal".
  • Sulka - marot (morning; pronounced mah-rote [rolled r and lengthened o], mavlemas (afternoon; v is pronounced as a fricative b), masegin (evening; g is pronounced as a fricative)
  • Swahili - jambo, Habari (hello), Habari gani (How are you?)
  • Swedish - tja (very informal; pronounced sha), hej (informal; pronounced hey), god dag (formal)
  • Swiss German - hallo (informal), grüezi (formal, pronounced kind of grew-tsi), grüessech (informal, used in the capital "Berne" pronounced grewe-thech)
  • Tagalog (Pilipino - Philippines) - Kumusta po kayo? (formal, means "How are you, sir or madam", pronounced "kuh-muh-stah poh kah-yoh"), Kumusta ka? (informal, means "how are you?", "kuh-muh-stah kah"). You can also add na when talking to someone you haven't see in a while, Kumusta na po kayo? or Kumusta ka na?. Magandang umaga po (Good morning, pronounced "mah-gan-dang oo-mah-gah poh"), Magandang hapon po (Good afternoon, "mah-gan-dang ha-pon poh"), Magandang gabi po (Good evening or night, "mah-gan-dang gah-beh poh"), Magandang tanghali po (good day, literally midday or noon, "mah-gan-dang tang-ha-leh poh"); NOTE: to make these informal greetings, drop po from the end and add the person's first name. Still, some people use words like mare or paremare pronounced "mah-reh" for a close female friend; pare pronounced "pah-reh" for a close male friend). You may add it either before or after the greeting. Example, Mare, kumusta ka na? or Kumusta ka na, pare?
  • Tahitian - ia orana
  • Taiwanese (Hokkien) - Li-ho
  • Tamil - vanakkam
  • Telugu- namaskaram, baagunnara (means "how are you?"; formal)
  • Tetum (Timor - Leste) - bondia (morning), botarde (afternoon), bonite (evening)
  • Thai - sawa dee-ka (said by a female), sawa dee-krap (said by a male)
  • Tigrinya (Eritrea) - selam
  • Tongan - malo e lelei
  • Tshiluba - moyo
  • Tsonga (South Africa) - minjhani (when greeting adults), kunjhani
  • Turkish - merhaba selam (formal), selam (Informal)
  • Ukranian - dobriy ranok (formal; morning), dobriy den (formal; afternoon), dobriy vechir (formal; evening), pryvit (informal)
  • Uzbek - Assalomu Alaykum (Formal) Salom(Informal) YM
  • Ung Tongue - Hello (This is a made-up language, like Pig latin. This is pronounced Hung-ee-lung-lung-oh.)
  • Urdu - adaab or salam or as salam alei kum (the full form, to which the reply would be waa lay kum assalaam in most cases)
  • Vietnamese - xin chào
  • Welsh - shwmae (South Wales; pronounced shoe-my), "Sut Mae" North Wales( pron "sit my") or "S'mae" ( Pron "S' my") or simply "Hylo"
  • Yiddish - sholem aleikhem (literally "may peace be unto you"), borokhim aboyem or gut morgn (morning), gutn ovnt (evening), gutn tog (day), gut shabbos (only used on the Sabbath)
  • Yoruba - E karo (Good morning), E ku irole (Good afternoon), E ku ale (good night).
  • Zulu - sawubona
 
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