How to Say Hello in Romanian: Bună Ziua, Salut and More

Hello in Romanian is bună ziua (BOO-nuh ZEE-wah) in formal situations and bună (BOO-nuh) or salut (sah-LOOT) with friends. If you only remember one, make it bună ziua: it works with strangers, shopkeepers, waiters, and anyone older than you, at any point during the day.

Now let's make sure you pick the right one for the right moment, and actually pronounce it so Romanians understand you.

Every way to say hello in Romanian

Formal or informal? Pick fast

Romanian, like French or Spanish, splits the world into formal and informal. The rule of thumb:

• Bună ziua for strangers, service staff, colleagues you don't know well, and anyone noticeably older. Literally "good day".
• Bună or salut for friends, family, classmates, and people your age in casual settings.

When in doubt, go formal. Nobody is ever offended by bună ziua, but greeting a 60-year-old shopkeeper with "salut" lands about as well as "yo" in a job interview.

The time-based variants swap in naturally: bună dimineața in the morning, bună ziua through the day, bună seara once evening sets in. Romanians actually use these, so matching the time of day makes you sound instantly more natural.

And if you're in Cluj, Brașov, or anywhere else in Transylvania, you'll hear servus everywhere. It's a friendly regional "hi" inherited from the Austro-Hungarian era (Germans and Hungarians use it too). Feel free to use it back.

Pronunciation: the two letters that matter

Romanian spelling is refreshingly consistent, but two letters trip up every beginner:

• ă is the "uh" sound, like the a in "sofa". So bună is BOO-nuh, not "boona" or "boonah" with a bright a. This letter is everywhere in Romanian, so nail it early.
• ț is "ts", like the end of "cats". You'll need it for dimineața (dee-mee-NYAH-tsah) and for mulțumesc, "thank you".

Two more quick notes:

• z in ziua is a normal English z, and "iua" flows together as roughly "ZEE-wah".
• Stress usually falls where the pronunciation guides above show it. Get the stress right and Romanians will understand you even if a vowel slips.

Reading "BOO-nuh ZEE-wah" gets you maybe 70% of the way there. The ă in particular is a sound your mouth has to learn by imitation, not by description. Listen to a native speaker say bună ziua a few times and repeat it out loud immediately after, copying the rhythm. Five minutes of that beats an hour of reading.

Good news: you already half-know Romanian

Romanian is a Romance language, the easternmost child of Latin, and that makes greetings (and everything else) easier than you'd expect:

• Bună is a cousin of Italian "buona", Spanish "buena", French "bonne". Bună ziua maps almost word for word to the Italian "buongiorno" family.
• Salut is the same word as French "salut" and close to Italian "saluti".
• Noapte (night) sits right next to Spanish "noche" and Italian "notte".

If you speak any French, Spanish, or Italian, or just English with its huge Latin vocabulary, you'll keep running into words you can guess. Romanian looks exotic on the map, but on the page it's family.

Common mistakes to avoid

1. Flattening the ă. Saying "boona zeewa" with bright vowels is the number one giveaway. Bună has a muffled "uh" at the end.
2. Using salut with elders or officials. Save it for peers. Formal Romanian culture is still very much alive, especially outside big cities.
3. Saying noapte bună as a greeting. It means "good night" in the going-to-sleep sense. Arrive at 10pm and you still say bună seara.
4. Confusing bună (hi) with bine (fine). When someone asks "Ce faci?" (how are you?), the answer is "Bine, mulțumesc", fine, thanks. Not bună.
5. Overthinking "hello" on the phone. Romanians answer with "Alo" or "Da", so don't be thrown when nobody says bună ziua when picking up.

How to say goodbye in Romanian

Round out the exchange:

• La revedere (lah reh-veh-DEH-reh) is the formal goodbye, the exact counterpart of bună ziua.
• Pa (pah) is the casual "bye" between friends. You'll often hear it doubled: "Pa, pa!"
• O zi bună (oh zee BOO-nuh) means "have a good day", a warm way to leave a shop or end a chat.

Make it stick in one evening

Here's the fastest way to own these greetings instead of just recognizing them:

1. Pick your core four: bună ziua, bună, la revedere, pa.
2. Get native audio for each and shadow it: play, repeat out loud right away, copy the stress and the ă sound, ten times per phrase.
3. Add the sentences you'll personally need next: "Bună ziua, o cafea, vă rog" if you're headed to Bucharest, "Salut, ce faci?" if you're texting a Romanian friend.

That last step is the one most apps skip, and it's exactly how Hyperpolyglot works: type any phrase you want in your own words, get natural native audio instantly, and drill it with shadowing until it comes out automatically. Your greetings, your sentences, your situations. Available on iOS, Android, and Web.

Say bună ziua out loud right now, twenty times, with a proper "uh" at the end. That's your first real step into Romanian.

Keep reading

• How to Learn Romanian
• The Language Islands Method