How to Say Hello in Greek: Yia Sou, Kalimera and More

Hello in Greek is Γεια σου, pronounced YAH-soo, when you are talking to one person you know. To greet a stranger, someone older, or a group, use the polite form Γεια σας, pronounced YAH-sass. That is the whole answer for 90% of situations. The rest of this guide covers the variations Greeks actually use, how to pronounce them so people understand you, and the mistakes that give learners away.

The Essential Greek Greetings

A few notes on the table. Γεια literally means "health", so when you say yia sou you are wishing someone good health, the same root as the toast yia mas (to our health) you will hear over glasses of ouzo. Καληνύχτα (kaliníhta) is a farewell, not a greeting: use it when you leave in the evening, never when you arrive. And Χαίρετε (hérete) is the safest opener when you walk into a pharmacy, a bank, or any situation where you want to sound respectful without overthinking it.

Kalimera and Kalispera: Greetings by Time of Day

Greeks lean on time-of-day greetings more than English speakers do, and using them well makes you sound instantly more natural.

• Καλημέρα (kaliméra), good morning, is the default from waking up until roughly 1 or 2 pm. Walking into a bakery at 10 am? Kaliméra, always.
• Καλησπέρα (kalispéra), good evening, takes over from late afternoon, around 5 or 6 pm, through the night. It works both as a hello when you arrive at a taverna and when you answer the phone in the evening.
• Between the two, in the afternoon gap, most Greeks simply use yia sou or yia sas.

Both work with anyone, formal or informal, which makes kaliméra the single most useful word to say to a stranger in Greece. You cannot get it wrong.

Formal vs Informal: Sou or Sas?

Greek keeps the distinction English lost centuries ago: σου (sou) is singular and informal, σας (sas) is plural and polite. The rule is simple:

• Yia sou: friends, family, children, people your age in casual settings.
• Yia sas: strangers, older people, shopkeepers, waiters, anyone you would address with "vous" in French or "usted" in Spanish. Also any group of two or more people, regardless of how well you know them.

When in doubt, use yia sas. Nobody is ever offended by extra politeness, and Greeks will often invite you to switch to the informal form once the ice is broken. Among younger people the informal spreads fast, but defaulting to sas with anyone visibly older than you is the safe move.

Pronunciation: What the Transliteration Hides

Here is the honest part: "yia sou" on paper does not tell you how it actually sounds. The Greek γ at the start is not a hard English "y" or "g", it is a soft, breathy sound made further back in the throat, closer to the "y" in "yes" but voiced deeper. The stress lands hard on the first syllable: YAH-soo, not yah-SOO. Get the stress wrong and Greeks will still understand you, but kaliméra with the stress on the wrong syllable (KA-limera instead of kali-MÉ-ra) sounds noticeably off.

This is exactly where reading transliterations fails you. No spelling of hérete captures the Greek χ, a rough "h" like the ch in Scottish "loch". The only way to get these sounds is to hear a native speaker say the full phrase, then say it back out loud, several times, until your mouth stops resisting. That listen-and-repeat loop, called shadowing, is how the Hyperpolyglot app teaches every phrase: real sentences with native audio you drill until they come out automatically. Available on iOS, Android, and Web.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Using yia sou with strangers. The most common learner error. A waiter, a taxi driver, a hotel receptionist all get yia sas.
2. Saying kaliníhta as a hello. Good night is only for goodbyes. Arriving at a dinner at 9 pm, say kalispéra.
3. Stressing the wrong syllable. Kaliméra, kalispéra, yia sou: stress falls where the accent mark sits in Greek (καλημέρα, καλησπέρα). Learn the rhythm from audio, not from spelling.
4. Overusing hérete. It is correct but stiff between peers. With people your age, yia sou or plain ya is the natural choice.
5. Confusing yia sou with the toast. Yia mas means "to our health" and belongs with a raised glass, not a handshake.

Bonus: How to Say Goodbye in Greek

The good news: yia sou and yia sas also mean goodbye. Greeks use the same word coming and going, like the Italian "ciao". A few more options:

• Αντίο (adío), goodbye, slightly more final, like signing off.
• Τα λέμε (ta léme), "see you", literally "we will talk", casual and very common.
• Καλή συνέχεια (kalí synéhia), "have a good rest of your day", a warm way to leave a shop or end a chat.

Learn yia sou, yia sas, and kaliméra with real audio, drill them until they are reflexes, and you have everything you need to open a conversation anywhere in Greece.

Keep Reading

• How to Learn Greek -- the full beginner roadmap, from the alphabet to your first conversations
• Language Islands -- the real-sentence method that turns greetings into actual conversations