Hello in Italian

Listen to the different Italian greetings, and then go ahead and practice saying each Italian phrase aloud.

It’s important to get the basics right, and the Italian people you meet will really appreciate your efforts. You know you’re saying it right if they continue the conversation, expecting you to keep up!

Resources for further reading:

• Perfect your Italian pronunciation
• What you need to know to learn Italian

How to say Hello in Italian

Greetings like "good morning" or "good afternoon" are incredibly important in Italy. As the Italian culture is friendly, going through the ritual of greeting another person is an important way of showing respect.

Italians shake hands while saying "Buon giorno" or "Buona sera" depending on the time of the day. You are expected to greet every person individually, even if they're in a group. That means that if you're walking along the road and pass a group of five people, you'll have to say, "Buon giorno," and shake hands with enthusiasm!

As you have learned before, there are two ways of addressing someone in Italian: a polite or a formal way using "Lei" and a more casual way using "tu". The same concept applies to greetings. Listen to the link below to hear formal Italian greetings…

Nowadays it is quite common to use English greetings, like "hi" and "bye bye", but these are considered to be casual. Listen to the link below to hear some informal Italian greetings…

Using different greetings will make you sound more fluent, so try to remember as many as you can.

That’s it for this lesson. If you want more lessons on Italian salutations then I recommend that you check out the following:

• Learn how to say Excuse me in Italian
• Learn lots of introductions in Italian. Really handy!
• Being able to say Thank you in Italian is essential for a great Italian experience!

A presto!

Maria DiLorenzi and the Rocket Italian Team