How to Say Hello in Turkish: Merhaba, Selam and More

Hello in Turkish is merhaba, pronounced mehr-hah-BAH. It works everywhere, with anyone, at any time of day, so if you memorize one word from this page, make it that one.

But Turkish greetings go further than a single word, and using the right one for the moment instantly makes you sound less like a tourist. Here is the full toolkit.

The Quick Reference Table

Merhaba: The One That Always Works

Merhaba is neutral. It is not too formal, not too casual, and no Turkish speaker will ever find it odd. Shopkeeper, taxi driver, new colleague, someone's grandmother: merhaba covers them all.

Pronunciation notes:

• Three syllables: mer-ha-ba.
• The r is lightly tapped, closer to Spanish than to English.
• In fast everyday speech, many Turks drop the h and say something like meraba. You will hear this constantly. Understand it, but say the full version yourself.

Selam: The Casual Option

Selam is the Turkish equivalent of "hi" or "hey". Use it with friends, people your age, and in relaxed settings. It comes from the Arabic salam (peace), and you will also hear the longer, more traditional selamün aleyküm among older or more religious speakers, answered with aleyküm selam.

Rule of thumb: if you would say "hey" in English, selam is fine. If you would say "hello", stick with merhaba.

Greetings by Time of Day

Turks use time-based greetings a lot, often more than merhaba itself:

• Günaydın -- good morning. Literally "the day is bright". Use it until roughly midday.
• İyi günler -- good day. Works through the afternoon, and doubles as a polite goodbye when leaving a shop.
• İyi akşamlar -- good evening. From late afternoon onward.
• İyi geceler -- good night. Only when parting for the night, not as a greeting.

Notice that iyi günler, iyi akşamlar, and iyi geceler all work both as hello and goodbye. Walking into a bakery at 6 pm with iyi akşamlar and leaving with the same phrase is perfectly natural.

Hoş Geldiniz and Hoş Bulduk: The Welcome Exchange

This pair trips up almost every learner, so get it straight now.

• Hoş geldiniz means "welcome" (literally "you came well"). The host says it: the person whose home, shop, or city you are entering. With one friend, it becomes the informal hoş geldin.
• Hoş bulduk ("we found it well") is the guest's fixed reply. You do not repeat hoş geldiniz back.

So: you walk into a restaurant, the waiter says hoş geldiniz, you answer hoş bulduk. That two-second exchange happens millions of times a day across Turkey, and getting it right earns real smiles.

A Bit of Culture

Greetings matter in Turkey. Walking into a small shop without a greeting reads as cold, and skipping the hoş bulduk reply can feel like ignoring an outstretched hand. Handshakes are standard in formal settings; friends often greet with a kiss on each cheek. Among close friends, expect a follow-up question immediately: Nasılsın? (How are you?), to which the standard reply is İyiyim, teşekkürler (I'm fine, thanks).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Replying "hoş geldiniz" to hoş geldiniz. The reply is hoş bulduk. Full stop.
2. Using günaydın in the evening. It is strictly a morning greeting.
3. Using iyi geceler as a hello. It only means "good night" when leaving.
4. Stressing the wrong syllable. Turkish tends to stress the last syllable: mer-ha-BA, se-LAM, gün-ay-DIN.
5. Saying selam to officials or elders you do not know. Too casual. Merhaba is the safe choice.

Bonus: How to Say Goodbye in Turkish

Turkish splits "goodbye" by who is leaving, just like the welcome exchange:

• Hoşça kal (or formal hoşça kalın) -- said by the person leaving. Literally "stay well".
• Güle güle -- said by the person staying. Literally "go laughing".

So when you leave a shop, you say hoşça kal and the shopkeeper answers güle güle, never the other way around. A more neutral option that anyone can use is görüşürüz (see you later).

How to Actually Remember These

Reading a list once will not make hoş bulduk come out of your mouth at the right moment. What works is drilling these as complete, real phrases with native audio: hear hoş geldiniz, answer hoş bulduk out loud, repeat until the exchange fires automatically. Shadowing native pronunciation also fixes the stress patterns that no written guide can fully convey, especially the tapped r and the final-syllable stress.

💡 Hyperpolyglot tip: Add these greetings as cards, get instant native audio for each one, and loop them in Playlist until merhaba and hoş bulduk come out without thinking. Available on iOS, Android, and Web.

Keep Reading

• How to Learn Turkish -- the full beginner roadmap, from vowel harmony to your first conversations
• Language Islands -- why learning complete phrases like hoş bulduk beats memorizing word lists

Start with merhaba today, add the welcome exchange tomorrow, and you will handle every hello Turkey throws at you.