So, let’s start with the most important word to start any conversation: how do you say hello in Italian?
You probably already know ciao.
Turns out, there are quite a few different ways to say “hello” in Italian and it can be tricky to use them like Italians do.
If you know how to use them confidently you’ll stand out from the usual tourists and make a good impression.
By the end of this post, you’ll be able to say “hello” in Italian like a native and avoid some common errors that trip up most learners.
Ciao!
Imagine you’re at the market in Italy and would like to buy some asparagi . (B.t.w. April is the perfect season for that!)
You approach the seller and greet him: Ciao!
Right?
If you’re thinking “yes”, then keep reading.
Most tourists say ciao all the time, because it’s the most famous Italian greeting. But did you know that Italians use ciao ( pronounced CHOW) just in informal situations?
So, if you don’t know the person you’re talking to, for example, at the market, when checking into a hotel, or greeting a waiter, don't say ciao!
What should you say in these situations instead?
Buongiorno, buonasera.
These are the perfect ways to say 'hello' in Italian in formal situations, when greeting someone you don't know very well.
Buongiorno, avete gli asparagi? – Good morning, do you have asparagus?
Buonasera, avete un tavolo per due? – Good evening, do you have a table for two?
If you look at these words carefully, you can see they are actually made up of two words, just like in English:
Buon – good
giorno – day
And:
Buona – good
sera – evening
Easy.
When should you be using them?
Here’s the funny thing: there’s not exactly a shared rule among Italians.
Everyone agrees that before noon, you should use buongiorno . After lunch-time however, some Italians will start to say buonasera , while others will go on using buongiorno until around 5pm.
These are the most common greetings in Italian.
If you’re searching for something that a very few learners know, this next phrase is perfect for you!
Salve
Once you're in Italy, face to face with Italian people, the nervousness might kick in and you might start forgetting the words. It’s perfectly normal, many of our students tell us this.
If this happens you probably don’t want to worry about choosing between buongiorno and buonasera .
So here’s the word that you need (and that you might not find in textbooks):
Salve! – Hello!
It’s fairly formal and you can use it at any time of day when greeting people you don’t know well.
Salve, abbiamo una prenotazione. – Hello, we have a reservation.
Psst! And here are some tips on how to overcome the fear of speaking .
Buondì!
Here’s a super Italian way to say hello (and the one Matteo and his friends use all the time):
Buondì! (pronunced Bwon-DEE)
Do you see anything familiar in this word?
Yes, you got it. Just like in buongiorno we have:
Buon – good
Then you have the word dì. This is an ancient Italian word that means giorno, day .
Italians don’t usually use “ dì ” but it has remained in the expression : buondì.
If you think about it, it’s even closer to the English word 'day'.
Italians use buondì almost the same way they use buongiorno , but it sounds more informal
Buondì Matteo! Vuoi un caffè? – Good day Matteo! Do you want a coffee?
To pronounce it correctly, remember to put the accent on the last letter: Bwon-DEE
Uè
As you may already know, Italy has rich regional variety: from cuisine to language.
Depending on where you are travelling, you may hear different ways of saying hello.
Ué is a very interesting one because it’s used both in Naples (South of Italy) and Milan (in the North).
– Ué! Come va? – Hey! How’s it going?
– Ué Matteo! Tutto bene, e tu? – Hey Matteo! Everything’s good, and you?
It’s very informal and Italians just use it with people they know well. If you want to learn how to pronounce ué like a true Neapolitan scroll up and listen to the podcast: Matteo will teach you how.
Pronto?
Have you ever heard the Italian word pronto ? It literally means “ready”, but Italians also use it when they answer the phone, like the “hello” we say in English.
And it kind of makes sense because they say they’re ready to speak.
– Pronto? – Hello?
– Salve, vorrei prenotare un tavolo per favore. – Hello, I’d like to book a table, please.
Bonus Tip: how to sound super Italian
Salve, buongiorno. Un biglietto, per favore. – Hello, good morning. A ticket, please.
Ué, ciao! Quando sei arrivato? – Hey, hello! When did you arrive?
Do you notice anything strange?
Yep, Italians often say greetings twice.
If you feel like venturing out and using it, remember that the two greetings you use must both be valid for the situation you are in.
So, for example, if you enter a restaurant you can say:
Salve, buongiorno. (Two greetings suitable for formal situations)
Whereas, if you’re greeting someone you’re close to, you can say:
Uè, ciao! (Two informal greetings).
Hello in Italian: Review
Now you’re ready to take the first step in conversations with Italians, both face to face and by phone! Here’s the list of ways to say 'hello' that you just learned.
| Ciao | Hi | CHOW | Informal |
| Buongiorno | Good morning, good day | Bwon-JOR-no | Formal and informal |
| Buonasera | Good evening | Bwon-nah SEH-rah | Formal and informal |
| Salve | Hello | SAL-veh | Formal |
| Buondì | Good morning, good day | Bwon-DEE | Informal |
| Uè | Hey | WEH | Very informal |
| Pronto? | Hello? | PRON-toh | Answering the telephone |
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Hello! Before we talk about the different ways to say this in Italian, could we ask you a quick favour? If you're listening on your podcast app, can you hit the subscribe or follow button? This way, you'll get notified of new episodes, and you'll help our podcast grow so we can keep making them. Grazie!
K: Today we’re talking about something that is typically Italian: buying seasonal fruit and vegetables at the market. Matteo is usually in charge of going to the market, because he cooks, so he also buys the ingredients!
M: True. Mi piace molto andare al mercato . I really like going to the market.
K: If I phone Matteo and find out he’s at the market, I always ask him to buy something.
M: Also true. And you’re always overly optimistic that they’ll have it!
K: Let’s listen to the conversation. How many ways of saying ‘hello’ can you hear?
M: Pronto?
K: Buondì!
M: Uè, ciao! Sono al mercato.
K: Grande, puoi prendere le arance?
M: È aprile. È troppo tardi per le arance.
K: Mmm. Puoi chiedere?
M: Salve, buongiorno. Avete le arance? [...] No, non hanno le arance.
K: Mmm… e un’altra bancarella?
M: No Katie, non hanno le arance.
M: Welcome to my world :D
K: Let’s break that down. Matteo said:
M: Pronto? – Hello? Literally: ready?
K: So, here’s our first “hello”. Italians say “pronto” (ready) when they answer the phone. And it kind of makes sense because it’s like announcing that they’re ready to speak.
M: Pronto (x2)
K: Then I said:
M: Buondì! - Good morning or hello
K: This is one of my favourite greetings, Matteo and his friends always use it. It’s informal and it sounds really Italian. The meaning is the same as the more common buongiorno, which literally means ‘good day’ (and we’ll talk more about that soon). Here, instead of the word giorno we have dì.
M: Yes , dì is an ancient Italian word that means giorno, day . We don’t usually use “dì” but it has remained in the word buondì .
K: It’s remained in the days of the week too, for example, lune dì is Monday. If you think about it, dì is even closer to the English word 'day'. So again, this informal way to say ‘hello’ we just heard is:
M: Buondì (x2)
K: Then Matteo said
M: Uè, ciao! Sono al mercato. - Hey, hi! I'm at the market
Uè – hey
ciao – hi
sono– I’m
Al – at the (“a” means “at” and “il” means “the”. We smush them together and get “al”)
mercato– market
K: Ué is a very interesting, and very informal way to say hello. It’s used both in Naples (in the South of Italy) and Milan (in the North). So it’s the perfect greeting for Matteo, since he’s a Neapolitan living in Milan.
M: In Milan they pronounce it differently, with the è which is more open, a bit like uè . I can’t really do the Milanese accent very well though! In Naples we say uè.
K: Also, did you notice how Matteo greeted twice?
M: Uè, ciao! (x2)
K: Italians often say greetings twice.
M: Exactly. If you want to try, remember that the two greetings you use must both work for the situation you are in. So, for example, if you enter your hotel you can say two formal greetings, like: Salve, buongiorno! But not: Uè, buongiorno .
If you’re greeting someone you’re close to, you can say uè ciao , with two informal greetings, like Matteo did on the phone.
K: Then I said:
M: Grande, puoi prendere le arance? - Great, can you get some oranges? Literally:
Grande – great
Puoi – can you
prendere– take
le – the
arance – oranges
K: And Matteo said:
M: È aprile. È troppo tardi per le arance.- It’s April. It’s too late for oranges.
È – It’s
Aprile – April
È – It’s
troppo– too
tardi– late
per– for
le – the
arance– oranges
K: In Italy you mostly only find seasonal fruit and vegetables at the market, which is a good thing because it’s better for the environment and they’re always tasty! In the UK, we associate oranges with hot countries, so I didn’t know that they are actually a winter fruit.
M: Yes, they need lots of sun but cool night temperatures, so it’s difficult to find them when the weather starts to get warmer.
K: But I love oranges so I thought I’d try anyway! So I asked Matteo:
M: Mmm. Puoi chiedere? - Mmm, can you ask?
Puoi – can you
chiedere– ask
K: Matteo reluctantly asked the seller:
M: Salve, buongiorno. Avete le arance? - Hello, good morning. Do you have oranges? [...] [...] No, non hanno le arance. - No, they don’t have oranges.
Salve – Hello
buongiorno – good morning
Avete – you have (in the plural form, when speaking to one or more people)
le – the
arance– oranges
No– no
Non hanno – They don’t have
le – the
arance– oranges
M: And… I was right!
K: Did you hear how Matteo greeted the seller? First he said salve . This is a very handy word you might not find in textbooks. It’s fairly formal and you can use it any time of day when greeting people you don’t know well.
M: And it’s a common greeting among native speakers, so it will help you blend in with the locals! Salve (x2)
K: As he did before, Matteo greeted twice and after salve , he said buongiorno . To say “hello” in the day, we literally say “good day”:
M: buongiorno (x2)
K: And if we say them both it’s:
M: Salve, buongiorno (x2)
K: Matteo is right of course
M: I’m always right.
K: They don’t have arance . But I’m still optimistic so I said:
M: Mmm… e un’altra bancarella? - And another stall?
E – And
Un’altra – another
bancarella – stall
K: Then Matteo said:
M: No Katie, non hanno le arance. - No Katie. They don’t have oranges.
No Katie – no Katie
Non hanno – They don’t have
le – the
arance – oranges
K: Matteo brings me back to reality and the lack of oranges in April.
M: In April there are fragole , strawberries, you should get those!
K: Mm… yes, with la panna, cream! Buonissime … Back to today’s lesson: we heard 5 ways to say “hello”, that are different from “ciao”. There’s the handy, fairly formal one you can use at any time of the day:
M: Salve (x2)
K: And how do we say hello in the day, literally “good day”? You learnt two ways, the most common one is:
M: Buongiorno! (x2)
K: And you heard a more informal one, that Matteo and his friends often use, that is:
M: Buondì! (x2)
K: And the typical Neapolitan (and Milanese) 'hello'?
M: Well, I can provide the Neapolitan version: Uè!
K: And finally, “hello” when you answer the telephone?
M: Pronto (x2)
K: Let’s listen to the conversation again.
M: Pronto?
K: Buondì!
M: Uè, ciao! Sono al mercato.
K: Grande, puoi prendere le arance?
M: È aprile. È troppo tardi per le arance.
K: Mmm. Puoi chiedere?
M: Salve, buongiorno. Avete le arance? [...] No, non hanno le arance.
K: Mmm… e un’altra bancarella?
M: No Katie, non hanno le arance.
K: Now there’s actually a common mistake most people make when using the word “ciao”.
M: Oh yes. You’ll find it in our blog post for this episode.
K: You’ll also see everything from today’s lesson written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz. To find out more, head over to our website by clicking on the link in the description. Or you can go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 133.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: How to say Hello in Italian
Vocabulary
Buongiorno = Good morning/good day
Buonasera = Good evening
Buonasera, avete un tavolo per due? = Good evening, do you have a table for two?
Salve, abbiamo una prenotazione. = Hello, we have a reservation.
Salve, buongiorno. Un biglietto, per favore = Hello, good morning. A ticket, please
Pronto? = Hello? (on the telephone)
Buondì, vuoi un caffè? = Good morning/good day, do you want a coffee?
Uè, ciao! Sono al mercato = Hey, hello! I’m at the market.
Salve, buongiorno. Avete le arance? = Hello, good morning. Do you have oranges?
Flashcards: How To Say Hello In Italian
Remember the vocabulary from this lesson by downloading the flashcards.
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
