Buongiorno, buonasera…
Greet correctly for the hour and the register, then add the four courtesy words that smooth every Italian exchange.
Day 3 of 100 · Roma
Before new words go in, pull the last two days back from memory. Cover the answers, say each one out loud, then check.
- essere: io ____, tu ____, lui / lei ____. (sono · sei · è)
- Which "you" do you use with a stranger or someone older? Which with a friend your own age? (Lei · tu)
Listen: one day, many greetings
Read this straight through and get the gist first. Notice how the greeting changes with the clock, and how the same four courtesy words keep appearing.
Now make it active. Open that channel, pick any "greetings" or "introduce yourself" video, and read the Italian above while she speaks. Then say the lines back. Active listening means eyes on the words and mouth moving, never background noise.
The pattern: which greeting, when
Italian greetings are keyed to two things: the clock, and who is standing in front of you. Get both right and you sound at home before you have said anything else.
Which greeting, and when
- Buongiorno covers the whole working day, from waking until mid-afternoon. It means "hello" as much as "good morning".
- Buonasera takes over in the late afternoon, roughly from 5 or 6 p.m., and lasts all evening.
- Buonanotte is only for leaving at night, when you or they are heading to bed. It is a goodbye, never a hello.
- Ciao works for both hello and goodbye, but only with people you would address as tu.
- Salve is the neutral middle ground: a safe hello with anyone, whatever the hour, when you are not sure how formal to be.
Leaving has its own words. Arrivederci is the all-purpose, slightly formal goodbye, for anywhere ciao would feel too casual. A presto ("see you soon") and a domani ("see you tomorrow") add a warmer, more specific note.
Right after the greeting comes the check-in, and it bends to register too:
- Come stai? to a friend (tu).
- Come sta? to anyone you address as Lei.
- Come va? ("how's it going?") is relaxed and fits most informal moments.
Typical replies: bene (well), molto bene (very well), così così (so-so), non c'è male (not bad). Then bounce it straight back with E tu? or E Lei?
Today's words
Twelve words you will use every single day in Italy. The band shows how common each one is: the lower the number, the more often you'll hear it.
Two things to tune your ear to today.
- Questions lift at the end. Say Come stai? and let your voice rise on the last syllable, the way a friendly "you okay?" curls up in English. That lift is what makes it a warm question instead of a flat statement.
- The letter c has two sounds. Before e or i it goes soft, /tʃ/, like the "ch" in "church": ciao, arrivederci. Before a, o, u it goes hard, /k/, like "cat": come, scusa. Same letter, two faces, decided entirely by the vowel that follows.
Put it to work
- Right greeting, right person. Which do you say to: (a) your landlord at 8 a.m., (b) a friend at 7 p.m., (c) anyone as you head to bed at midnight, (d) a shopkeeper you don't know at noon? (buongiorno · buonasera · buonanotte · ciao · salve)
- stai, sta, or va? Choose the check-in for (a) your doctor, (b) your best friend, (c) a group of classmates you know casually. (→ sta · stai · va)
- Supply the courtesy word. You want a coffee: "Un caffè, ____." You step on someone's foot: "____!" Someone has just thanked you: "____." (per favore · scusi · prego)
- Shadow the dialogue. Read the "across the day" exchange aloud twice, letting your voice rise on Come sta? both times.
Open your phone's voice recorder and move through one whole day out loud. Greet, be courteous, check in.
- 9 a.m., a shopkeeper. Stay formal: Buongiorno! Come sta? Ask for something with per favore, and close with grazie.
- 6 p.m., a friend. Keep it easy: Ciao! Come va?
- Going to bed. Sign off for the night: Buonanotte, a domani!
Play it back. Did your voice rise on the questions? Did ciao come out soft and come hard? That is the whole loop closing again.
Italians rarely stop at the greeting. They glue a quick check-in onto it and say the whole thing in one breath: Ciao, come va?, Buongiorno, come sta?. And when you cannot read the register, salve is your safety net: polite, neutral, and never wrong.
La passeggiata and the aperitivo hour
As the workday winds down, Italian towns fill up for the passeggiata, the unhurried evening stroll along the main street. It is a slow social lap where the whole point is to greet and be greeted, to see and be seen. This is also when buonasera truly takes over from buongiorno, right about as the bars set out the aperitivo, that pre-dinner drink with its ritual of small bites. Greeting well is not a nicety here, it is how you belong to the piazza.
A greeting was a wish for your health
Salve and the verb salutare both come from the Latin salus, meaning health and wellbeing. To greet someone was literally to wish them well, the same root that gives Italian salute (health) and the toast you raise, Salute!. Romans exchanged these greetings in the Foro Romano, the Roman Forum, the civic heart where citizens met, argued, and did business for centuries.
- Greetings are keyed to the clock: buongiorno by day, buonasera from the late afternoon, buonanotte only when leaving for bed.
- Ciao is both hello and goodbye, but only with people you'd call tu; salve is the safe, neutral hello whenever you're unsure.
- Check in right after greeting: come stai? (tu), come sta? (Lei), come va? (relaxed), and reply bene or non c'è male.
- Four courtesy words carry every exchange: per favore, grazie, prego, scusa / scusi.