How to say “hi” in 34 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- 이봐요[ibwa̠jo] Korean
- γεια/ˈʝa/ Greek
- ഹായ്/häːjɨ̆/ Malayalam
- здоров[zdɔˈrɔu̯] Ukrainian
“hi” in French: salut · German: hi · Korean: 이봐요 · Greek: γεια
It is commonest in Finnish, where hei is the 48th most used word.
Hi in other languages, A to Z
- Albanian tung/tuŋ(ɡ)/ hi, hello #358
- Basque kaixo/kai̯ʃo/ hello, hi #45
- Bosnian hej/ɦɛj/ #89
- Bulgarian здрасти[ˈzdrasti] hello, hi #270
- Catalan hola[ˈɔ.lə] hello, hi #115
- Chinese 你好/ni²¹⁴⁻³⁵ xɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/ hello; hi #40
- Croatian hej/ɦɛj/ #95
- Czech ahoj/aˈɦoj/ hello, hi #105
- Danish hej/hɑj/ hi, hello #94
- Estonian tere/ˈtere/ hello, hi #83
- Finnish hei/ˈhei̯/ #48
- French salut/sa.ly/ hi, hello #199
- German hi/ˈhaɪ̯/ #372
- Greek γεια/ˈʝa/ hi, hello #111
- Hungarian szia[ˈsijɒ] #113
- Icelandic hæ[ˈhaiː] #151
- Indonesian hai/haɪ/ #263
- Italian salve/ˈsal.ve/ hello!; hi!; hail! #412
- Korean 이봐요[ibwa̠jo] hi, hey, hello #274
- Latvian čau/ˈt͡ʃau/ hello, hi #516
- Lithuanian labas/ˈɫɑ̌ːbɐs/ hi, hello #90
- Malay hai/hai̯/ Used as a greeting; hi #288
- Malayalam ഹായ്/häːjɨ̆/ #144
- Norwegian hei/hæɪ/ #91
- Persian سلام[sæ.lɒ́ːm] hello, hi #60
- Portuguese olá/oˈla/ hello; hi #117
- Russian привет[prʲiˈvʲet] hello, hi #99
- Serbian hej/ɦɛj/ #101
- Slovak ahoj/aˈɦɔj/ hello, hi #87
- Slovenian živjo/ʒiʋjɔ/ hello, hi #138
- Spanish hola/ˈola/ hello, hi, hey #88
- Swedish hej/ˈhɛjː/ hi, hello #85
- Turkish merhaba/ˈmæɾ.ha.baː/ hello, hi #103
- Ukrainian здоров[zdɔˈrɔu̯] #699
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.