6 ways to greet in Italian

If you are planning a trip to Italy and you intend to use some Italian many are the things to learn: how to ask for directions, how to order food, and how to count..

None, however, may be more important than knowing how to greet people.

Here there are 6 different ways of greeting to help you through your travels.

1. Ciao! (Hi, goodbye)

Ciao means both hello and goodbye. It is the most common and informal greeting used in Italy, but take note of its informality: You don't use it with people you do not know or people with whom you are not in a personal relationship (unless they are children); so you don't say it to the random person on the street, to the head of the police, or the shopkeeper. You can use it once you have made friends with somebody. Remember that in Italy there are formal and informal ways of addressing people.

2.Salve! (Hello)

Salve is a nice way to say hello, appropriate for acquaintances or to greet someone unknown in a store or on the street. It translates most perfectly to a basic, polite "hello." You mostly use it as a greeting when you arrive, as an opening, rather than when you leave.

3. Buongiorno (Good morning)

Buon giorno is the most widely used greeting in the morning, from anyone to anyone. You can use it to greet people you don't know while walking down the street; to greet friends at the bar for coffee; In most places, you can safely use buon giorno (also spelled buongiorno) up to lunchtime and no later. 

4.Buon pomeriggio (Good afternoon)

You can use this greeting any time in the afternoon. Though it is not used as often as fellow greetings buon giorno, above, and buona sera, below, you can use it with assurance because it is a fine way of saying hello in the afternoon. In fact, it has a certain distinction and elegance to it.

5.Buona Sera (Good Evening)

Buona sera (also spelled buonasera) is the perfect way to greet someone while you talk a walk (una passeggiata) or go shopping around town any time beginning in the early afternoon (after lunch). If you are taking leave of a place, still in the afternoon, you can also use buona sera, or arrivederci.

6.Arrivederci (Goodbye)

Arrivederci is the most common way of saying goodbye when you take leave of a place. While it literally means "to when we see each other again," and it can, depending on the circumstance, mean that you expect to see the person again, it is casually used every day to say goodbye, without any meaning attached. You can use it with people you know, but also when exiting a store or leaving a restaurant or a bank, even though you may never go there again.