First impressions matter. First impressions usually start with “Hello”. So, how do you say “hello” in Italian? In any language, there are many ways to express the same thought. Some words or phrases suggest friendliness and are perfect for casual situations:”Hey man, what’s going on?” On the other hand, some greetings are more blunt and have a restrained meaning, such as “Good morning, Sir.“
When learning a foreign language, you may come across many words or phrases that mean the same thing but have different meanings. Let’s analyze some of the most common claims”Hello” In Italian, starting with the most common: goodbye.
goodbye
The term has been internationalized. No matter which language you primarily use, it’s popular and widely recognized. But in Italian, its language of origin, it is considered a basic, informal greeting. It has the same meaning as the English greeting “hi”. It’s perfect for any casual encounter with friends or family.
Fun fact: This sentence can also used as “goodbye” – often repeated, such as “goodbye.“
ointment
if goodbye is a typical informal greeting, then ointment is the preferred greeting in most other settings. It’s a lot like the English word “hello”: a middle-of-the-road greeting that’s neither too stuffy nor too casual, and shouldn’t be used with close people. (You never hear someone greet their mom or best friend ointment, for example, unless they’re joking! ) This greeting is best reserved for strangers, your colleagues, or anyone in a higher power, such as a political office worker, police officer, or lawyer.
Good morning
good afternoon
Good evening
In order, these phrases translate directly to “good morning”, “good afternoon” and “good evening”.Depending on the time of day, you can use a relevant greeting, but honestly, it’s rarely heard good afternoon Used as a spoken greeting. It is more commonly used as a form of formal farewell.
If you haven’t looked at your watch lately and don’t know which timed greeting is more appropriate, you can always use Good morning, which is also widely used like the English phrase “good day”. Text your significant other in the morning, greet the grocery cashier politely, say a warm welcome to a visiting friend. However, once the sun starts to set, Good evening Definitely should be your first choice.
interesting fact: Good morning and Good evening Can also be used as a farewell.However, when used as farewells, they become goodbye (Have a nice day) and Good evening (Good evening) respectively.
Good morning
This line always reminds me of the Australian accent pronouncing “Good day, mate” as “G’day, mate”.This sounds like a lazy shortening of Good morning (Good morning), but is actually a persistent remnant of the old Latin word explain (“morning”) combined with the Italian word for “good” (OK). This is an extremely casual way of greeting a close relative or friend in the morning.
Pro tip: This is not a phrase you see in most language learning textbooks. It is used less among Italian speakers, probably because most of Italy considers the phrase very informal and only uses it among a few people.
fast
Literally meaning “are you ready?”, it’s a common phrase when answering the phone. It’s the perfect greeting when you’re not sure who you’re greeting before the caller ID comes up, so you should greet the person formally or informally. Nowadays, pronto is more commonly used for unknowns. If caller ID is your best friend, you don’t need pronto – just go to the “goodbye dear!“
the cow
For an extremely informal greeting with your siblings or dearest friends, try the cowmeaning”Hey“. Note, however, that the phrase the cow There are also other meanings of the same as “hey” in English.For example, if I want to get someone’s attention, I might say “hey” or the cow. In this case, the cow If used incorrectly, it can be confused with rudeness or haste.
Hey
The slang term for Ehilà originated from the cow above, but with the addition of become, meaning “there”. In short, this casual greeting means “Hey“.
Vera
This sentence is equivalent to Hey because it means “Hey“. this Wei- Just adopted the English word “hey” with a slightly different spelling and pronunciation, plus -become (There). This is very informal.
welcome
Let’s end this list of basic greetings with a welcome word. Literally, benvenuto means “welcome”. It’s neither informal nor formal, and it’s perfect for speaking to anyone. However, it cannot replace “Hello”. This is the welcome greeting used when inviting someone into a room.
common follow-up phrases
Just saying “hello” doesn’t always do the trick. Sometimes, follow-up questions are appropriate, especially when greeting a friend or family member.you may want to follow your goodbye or Good morning Have one of the following problems:
bring it on? / bring it on? – Are you OK?
Followed by goodbye or ointment, this phrase shows the person you are talking to that you care about them and their well-being.If you are speaking to someone younger than you or someone you know well, you can use informal words tower. If you are talking to an elder, an authority figure, or someone you don’t know well, use the more formal version star.
come? – how’s it going?
This casual phrase can be used on anyone, older or younger than you.Since this phrase doesn’t directly refer to the person you’re talking to, you don’t have to worry about whether you should use informal you or formal Lei. This helpful question asks how someone’s day went.
Written by our US-based contributors in Florence, Lisa Yap.
