10 Ways to Say "Hello" in Hebrew

It started as a kind of funny exercise when I asked myself how many ways there are in modern Hebrew to say "hello". Then I realized it might be a good idea to write a short lesson in this way. (Another interesting question may be, how many ways there are to reply.)

So, let's talk about greetings in Hebrew. Typically, it's one of the first things someone wants to learn when approaching a new language.

1. Shalom!

שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם [shalom aleikhem] or [shalom aleikhem] - Literally: "Peace upon you!" - this one is the most traditional one, and probably is familiar to everybody, as well as the next one:

!שָׁלוֹם - [shalom] - Most common greeting; but it is in fact a simplification of the former. You can also say "shalom, shalom!" Well, I guess everyone knows what this means.

2. What's up?

מַה נִשְׁמָע? [ma nishma] - "what's up" - is probably second by popularity among the greetings, if not the first.

There is a shortened version of it; it's quite new, and it's Tel Aviv slang rather than a common phrase everywhere: מַה נִישׁ? [ma nish?] I personally think it doesn't sound the best from an aesthetic point of view... But perhaps I'm just old-fashioned...

3. How are you?

מַה שְׁלוֹמְךָ? [ma shlomkha] (m) - "How are you doing?" (when talking to a male)

When talking to female: מַה שְׁלוֹמֵךְ? [ma shlomekh] (f)

Also, sometimes you can hear variations:

מַה שְׁלוֹם כְּבוֹדוֹ? - [ma shlom kvodo] - "How is Your Honor doing?" - either very respectful or slightly ironic.

מַה שְׁלוֹם הַגְּבֶרֶת? - [ma shlom ha-geveret] - "How are you doing, Ma'am?"

מַה שְׁלוֹם גְּבִרְתִּי? - [ma shlom gvirti] - "How are you doing, (my) Lady?"

מַה שְׁלוֹם הָאָדוֹן? - [ma shlom ha-adon] - "How are you doing, Sir?"

מַה שְׁלוֹם אֲדוֹנִי? - [ma shlom adoni] - "How are you doing, (my) Sir?"

4. Good morning!

בֹּקֶר טוֹב - [boker tov] - Good morning! - and we answer:

!בֹּקֶר אוֹר - [boker or] - "Morning (full) of light!"

עֶרֶב טוֹב - [erev tov] - Good evening!

Variations (again, all those are greetings, not farewell):

!בֹּקֶר מְצֻיָּן - [boker metzuyan] - (Have an) excellent morning!

!עֶרֶב נָעִים - [erev na`im] - (Have a) nice evening!

Remark: נָעִים is not plural; the plural of נָעִים would be נְעִימִים

!עֶרֶב מְצֻיָּן - [erev metzuyan] - Excellent evening!

צָהֳרַיִם טוֹבִים - [tzohorayim tovim] - Good afternoon (literally: Good noon, since צָהֳרַיִם means "middle of the day") Since צָהֳרַיִם is plural (rather dual), the adjective טוֹב gets its plural form טוֹבִים.

If you're trying to be polite, don't forget to add something like "Sir", or "my Lady", as mentioned above.

Well, although it's not exactly a greeting, for "Sweet dreams" we say in Hebrew:

לַיְלָה טוֹב - [layla tov] - Good night! (same as Sweet dreams!)

You also can say שֵׁנָה טוֹבָה - [sheina tova] - literally: (Have a) good sleep!

What about saying "have a good night" as a farewell? Let's keep this as a possible topic for the next article.

5. What's going on?

מַה קוֹרֶה? - [ma kore] - "what's going on"

You may also say "ma kore itkha" (m) / "ma kore itakh" - it literally means "what's going on with you?" - but this phrase in English might sound rather like "what's wrong with you?" The Hebrew phrase "ma kore itkha?" may be used both as a greeting or (with a slightly different tone) as a "what's wrong" phrase too.

אִתְּךָ - [itkha] (m) - "with you" (male)

אִתָּךְ - [itakh] (f) - "with you" (female)

נוּ, אָז מַה קוֹרֶה אִתְּךָ? - [az ma kore itkha, habibi] - "So, what's going on (with you)?"

6. How's everything?

מַה הַמַּצָּב? - [ma ha-matzav?] - it's translated as "How's everything?", or literally "what's the state (of the affairs)?", while the word מַצָּב means literally "situation, state".

7. Yet Another How's everything?

מַה הָעִנְיָנִים? - [ma ha-inyanim?], and with "ha-" part disappearing, it turns into

מַה עִנְיָנִים? - [ma `inyanim?]

The most adequate translation of עִנְיָנִים in this context is probably "all kinds of things". "How's everything?", that's what the phrase means.

In general, עִנְיָנִים is plural of the word עִנְיָן [`inyan] which has the meaning of "matter, business", and also "interest (in something)". (The letter Yud might be doubled when writing without vowels.)

מַה עִנְיָנִים, אָחִי? -- How's everything, (my) brother?

8. Welcome!

בָּרוּךְ הַבָּא! - [barukh ha-ba] - it means Welcome!, and literally translates as "Blessed is the comer". Somebody is coming in, and those meeting him (in their house, for example) are blessing him, that's what it is.

בְּרוּכִים הַבָּאִים! - [brukhim ha-ba'im] - Same thing as the former, but the greeting is being told to more than one person.

בְּרוּכִים הַנִּמְצָאִים! - [brukhim ha-nimtza'im] - Although rarely used nowadays, this would be a really nice reply to those who are telling you Welcome. Literally it means "Blessed (are those, who are) residing (here)!"

בָּרוּךְ הַשָּׁב! - [barukh ha-shav] - Another idiom of the same pattern; this is how you welcome somebody who had gone and then returned: "Blessed (is) the (one who is) returning!"

9. How's going?

אֵיךְ הוֹלֵךְ? - [eikh holekh] - Yep, it's almost literal translation of either English "How's going?" or German "Wie geht es?" (which means exactly the same.)

10. What's new?

All the variations of "anything new?", when you expect some news:

מַה חָדָשׁ? - [ma chadash?] - "What's new?"

נוּ, יֵשׁ חֲדָשׁוֹת? - [nu, yesh chadashot?] - "Any news?" The "Nu" is optional, of course. :)

Some Extras:

You can say just: Hi!

Do I really need to translate it? :)
Let me just bring the Hebrew spelling of this word:

!הַי

Obviously, this one is borrowed from English. And another one, quite popular, was borrowed from Arabic:

אַהְלָן - [ah_alan] - hello - is a shortened version of the Arabic "Ah_alan wa-sah_alan" (Welcome).