Italian Greetings
Ciao is the Italian word everyone knows, and it is also the one most often used wrongly. It belongs with friends, not with strangers, and the alternatives are below.
Arriving
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Ciao
chow
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Hi, bye
Friends and family only. Works coming and going
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Salve
SAL-veh
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Hello
Neutral. Safe when you do not know how formal to be
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Buongiorno
bwon-JOR-noh
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Good morning, good day
Until early afternoon. The polite default
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Buonasera
bwoh-nah-SEH-rah
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Good evening
From roughly 4pm, earlier than English would
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Benvenuto
ben-veh-NOO-toh
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Welcome
benvenuta to a woman
Asking how someone is
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Come stai?
KOH-meh sty
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How are you?
Informal, to someone you call tu
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Come sta?
KOH-meh stah
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How are you?
Formal, to someone you call Lei
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Come va?
KOH-meh vah
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How's it going?
Casual and works either way
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Bene, grazie
BEH-neh GRAH-tsyeh
-
Well, thanks
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Piacere
pyah-CHEH-reh
-
Nice to meet you
Leaving
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Arrivederci
ar-ree-veh-DEHR-chee
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Goodbye
The standard goodbye anywhere
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ArrivederLa
ar-ree-veh-DEHR-lah
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Goodbye
The formal version, to one person you call Lei
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A presto
ah PRES-toh
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See you soon
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A domani
ah doh-MAH-nee
-
See you tomorrow
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Ci vediamo
chee veh-DYAH-moh
-
See you around
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Buonanotte
bwoh-nah-NOT-teh
-
Good night
Only when someone is going to bed
Why ciao is the risky one
Ciao is informal in both directions. Saying it to a shopkeeper, an official or someone much older reads as over-familiar, in a way the English hi does not.
Salve is the escape hatch. It is neither formal nor casual and nobody will think twice about it.
The pronoun behind the split is tu for friends and Lei for everyone else. Lei is written with a capital L even mid-sentence, and it takes the same verb form as she.
Buonasera starts earlier than you expect. In much of Italy it is used from mid-afternoon, not from dusk.
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