How do you say hello in Japanese?

Konnichiwa (こんにちは) is the everyday daytime hello. In the morning, people say ohayō gozaimasu (おはようございます), or just ohayō with friends.

How do you say hello in Arabic?

Marhaban (مرحبا) is a common, friendly hello. As-salamu alaykum (السلام عليكم), peace be upon you, is used across the Arabic-speaking world, and the reply is wa alaykum as-salam.

How do you say hello in Korean?

Annyeonghaseyo (안녕하세요) is the polite hello you can use with anyone. With close friends, people just say annyeong (안녕).

Should I use the casual or the polite hello?

With someone you don't know, start with the polite form. If they answer with the casual one, you can switch. In many languages, using the casual form with a stranger sounds too familiar, while being too polite is rarely a problem.

Hello in 79 Languages: Casual, Polite and in Native Script

Hello is the first word most people learn in a new language, and the one you'll use most. Saying it in someone's own language is a small thing, but people notice it, and it's an easy way to start a conversation with someone from another country.

Below are 79 languages in native script, with romanization in brackets for non-Latin scripts. Each hello was checked in two references (Wiktionary and Omniglot), and we left out languages where they didn't agree. The third column shows a second form, usually the polite or the casual one.

Hello in 79 languages

Language	Hello	Also used
Spanish	¡Hola!	-
French	Bonjour	Salut (casual)
German	Hallo	Guten Tag (polite), Servus (south), Moin (north)
Italian	Ciao	Salve (more polite)
Portuguese	Olá	Oi (casual, Brazil)
Dutch	Hallo	Hoi (casual)
Afrikaans	Hallo	Goeiedag (polite)
Swedish	Hej	God dag (formal)
Danish	Hej	Goddag (formal)
Norwegian	Hei	God dag (formal)
Finnish	Hei	Moi, Terve (casual)
Icelandic	Halló	Góðan daginn (good day)
Polish	Cześć	Siema (very casual)
Czech	Ahoj	Dobrý den (formal)
Slovak	Ahoj	Dobrý deň (formal)
Slovene	Živjo	Pozdravljeni (formal)
Hungarian	Szia	Jó napot kívánok (formal)
Romanian	Salut	Bună ziua (good day)
Russian	Привет (privet)	Здравствуйте (zdravstvuyte), formal
Belarusian	Вітаю (vitayu)	-
Bulgarian	Здравей (zdravey)	Здравейте (zdraveyte), formal
Serbian	Здраво (zdravo)	-
Croatian	Bok	-
Greek	Γεια σου (ya sou)	Γεια σας (ya sas), formal or to a group
Lithuanian	Labas	Sveiki
Latvian	Sveiki	-
Estonian	Tere	Tervist
Basque	Kaixo	-
Catalan	Hola	-
Galician	Ola	-
Welsh	Helo	-
Irish	Dia dhuit	Dia dhaoibh (to a group)
Scottish Gaelic	Halò	-
Turkish	Merhaba	Selam (casual)
Azerbaijani	Salam	-
Uzbek	Salom	Assalomu alaykum (formal)
Kazakh	Сәлем (sälem)	Сәлеметсіз бе? (sälemetsiz be?), formal
Mongolian	Сайн байна уу? (sain baina uu?)	Сайн уу? (sain uu?), shorter
Georgian	გამარჯობა (gamarjoba)	-
Armenian	Բարև (barev)	Բարև ձեզ (barev dzez), formal
Arabic	مرحبا (marhaban)	السلام عليكم (as-salamu alaykum)
Hebrew	שלום (shalom)	-
Persian	سلام (salam)	درود (dorud)
Urdu	السلام علیکم (assalamu alaikum)	سلام (salam), casual
Pashto	سلام (salam)	السلام علیکم (as-salamu alaykum)
Hindi	नमस्ते (namaste)	नमस्कार (namaskar)
Bengali	নমস্কার (nomoskar)	আসসালামু আলাইকুম (assalamu alaikum), among Muslims
Punjabi	ਸਤਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ (sat sri akal)	-
Gujarati	નમસ્તે (namaste)	-
Marathi	नमस्कार (namaskar)	-
Nepali	नमस्ते (namaste)	-
Tamil	வணக்கம் (vanakkam)	-
Telugu	నమస్కారం (namaskaram)	-
Kannada	ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ (namaskara)	-
Malayalam	നമസ്കാരം (namaskaram)	നമസ്തേ (namaste)
Sinhala	ආයුබෝවන් (ayubowan)	-
Thai	สวัสดี (sawatdi)	add ครับ (khrap) if you are a man, ค่ะ (kha) if you are a woman
Lao	ສະບາຍດີ (sabaidi)	-
Khmer	សួស្តី (suosdei)	ជម្រាបសួរ (chumreap suor), formal
Burmese	မင်္ဂလာပါ (mingalaba)	-
Vietnamese	Chào	Chào anh (to a man), chào chị (to a woman)
Mandarin Chinese	你好 (nǐ hǎo)	您好 (nín hǎo), polite
Cantonese	你好 (néih hóu)	-
Japanese	こんにちは (konnichiwa)	-
Korean	안녕하세요 (annyeong-haseyo)	안녕 (annyeong), casual
Indonesian	Salam	Apa kabar? (how are you?)
Javanese	Halo	-
Tagalog	Kumusta	Musta (casual)
Hawaiian	Aloha	-
Māori	Kia ora	Tēnā koe (formal, to one person)
Samoan	Tālofa	-
Swahili	Hujambo	Jambo (short form)
Amharic	ሰላም (selam)	-
Hausa	Sannu	-
Zulu	Sawubona	Sanibonani (to a group)
Xhosa	Molo	Molweni (to a group)
Haitian Creole	Bonjou	-
Esperanto	Saluton	-
Navajo	Yá'át'ééh	-

Casual or polite: which hello to use

Many languages have two hellos: one for friends and one for strangers, older people or work. In German, Hallo is fine almost anywhere, but Guten Tag is safer in a shop or an email. In Russian, Privet is for friends and Zdravstvuyte for everyone else. Korean, Japanese and Thai build politeness into the word itself, and in Thai the polite ending depends on whether you are a man or a woman.

A simple rule works in most languages: start polite, then follow the other person. If they reply with the casual form, switch to it. Being a little too formal is rarely a problem, while being too casual with a stranger can sound rude.

Some hellos change with the number of people. In Zulu you say sawubona to one person and sanibonani to a group, in Xhosa molo and molweni, and in Irish Dia dhuit and Dia dhaoibh.

What some greetings really mean

A few hellos are not just "hello":

Shalom (Hebrew) and salam (Arabic, Persian, Urdu and others) both mean peace. They come from the same root, and shalom is also used to say goodbye.
Namaste (Hindi, Nepali) comes from Sanskrit and literally means "a bow to you". It is usually said with the palms pressed together.
Ciao (Italian) comes from the Venetian s-ciavo, "your servant". Today it means both hello and bye.
Sawubona (Zulu) means "we see you".
Aloha (Hawaiian) also means love and affection, and is used for goodbye too.
Annyeonghaseyo (Korean) comes from annyeong (安寧), peace or well-being.

Asking someone what the hello in their language really means is a good opener in itself. Most people have never thought about it, and the answer often leads to a longer chat.

Guess the language from a hello

We made a small daily game around this list: each day you get one hello and guess which language it is from. It takes a minute, and it's a good way to remember scripts you don't read yet. Play today's hello.

After hello

A hello only starts the conversation. If you want to practice with real people from other countries, try Olu to get matched for a text chat with someone abroad, with translation built in when you need it. Olu is for adults 18 and over. For what to say next, see how to start a conversation with a stranger from another country.