Hebrew greetings: what Israelis actually say, morning to night

The universal one: shalom

שָׁלוֹם (shalom) means peace, and it works as hello and goodbye at any hour, with anyone. It is polite, slightly formal, and never wrong. Israelis answer the phone with it, soldiers greet with it, and it closes letters.

Doubling it — shalom shalom — is a warm, slightly playful hello between friends.

By time of day

Each of these is used exactly like its English equivalent.

• בֹּקֶר טוֹב boker tov — good morning (reply: boker or, 'morning of light')
• צָהֳרַיִם טוֹבִים tsohorayim tovim — good afternoon (around midday)
• אַחַר צָהֳרַיִם טוֹבִים achar tsohorayim tovim — good later afternoon
• עֶרֶב טוֹב erev tov — good evening
• לַיְלָה טוֹב layla tov — good night (leaving or going to sleep)

Casual hellos you will hear on the street

Spoken Israeli Hebrew is informal. These are what friends, taxi drivers and shopkeepers actually use.

• מָה נִשְׁמָע ma nishma — literally 'what is heard', means how's it going
• מָה קוֹרֶה ma kore — what's up (very casual)
• מָה הָעִנְיָנִים ma ha'inyanim — how are things
• אֵיךְ הוֹלֵךְ eich holech — how's it going
• הַכֹּל טוֹב hakol tov — all good (both a question and an answer)
• אָהֳלָן ahalan — hey (borrowed from Arabic, very common)

Goodbyes

Israelis rarely say shalom when parting — these are far more common.

• לְהִתְרָאוֹת lehitraot — see you (shortened to lehit in speech)
• בַּיי bye — yes, straight from English, extremely common
• יוֹם טוֹב yom tov — have a good day
• נִתְרָאֶה nitra'e — we'll see each other
• סֶה סֶה sa'sa / יַאלְלָה בַּיי yalla bye — okay, bye then

Greetings tied to Shabbat and holidays

Hebrew has calendar greetings that replace the everyday ones on certain days, and you will hear all of them in Israeli music.

• שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם shabbat shalom — from Friday afternoon through Saturday
• שָׁבוּעַ טוֹב shavua tov — 'good week', said Saturday night
• חַג שָׂמֵחַ chag same'ach — happy holiday, any festival
• שָׁנָה טוֹבָה shana tova — happy new year (Rosh Hashanah)
• מַזָּל טוֹב mazal tov — congratulations

Formal vs informal, and the you problem

Hebrew has no polite 'you' the way French or Russian does — everyone is אַתָּה (ata, to a man) or אַתְּ (at, to a woman). Formality is carried by word choice instead: erev tov is neutral, ma kore is street-level. When in doubt with an older person or an official, use shalom plus the time-of-day greeting.

Verbs and adjectives change with the gender of the person you address, so 'how are you' is מָה שְׁלוֹמְךָ (ma shlomcha) to a man and מָה שְׁלוֹמֵךְ (ma shlomech) to a woman.

Learn them by ear, not by list

Greetings live in the first line of songs constantly, which is the easiest way to fix their rhythm and stress in your memory. On Shir-ly the Hebrew highlights word by word as the track plays, with nikud, transliteration and translation, so shalom, boker and layla stop being flashcards and become sounds you recognise instantly.

Frequently asked questions