Phrases |
'Useful' phrases |
Idioms |
Tongue twisters |
Language-related proverbs
These are phrases you use when you greet people in the evening. Exactly when you use these phrases varies from country to country. In some languages, Spanish for example, the same words are used for afternoon and evening.
| Language | Phrase |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Goeienaand |
| Albanian | Mirëmbrëma |
| Alsatian | Güete Obe |
| Arabic (Modern Standard) | (masā'ul kẖayr) مساء الخير |
| Arabic (Egyptian) | (misa' il kẖayr)
مساء الخير response - (misa' in noor) مساء النّور |
| Arabic (Moroccan) | (mselkẖīr) مساء الخير |
| Aragonese | Buena nuei |
| Armenian (Eastern) | Բարի' երեկո: (Bari yereko) |
| Armenian (Western) | Բարի իրիկուն: (Paree eereegoon) |
| Azerbaijani | Axşamınız xeyir |
| Basque | Arratsalde on |
| Belarusian | Добры вечар (Dobry vechar) |
| Bosnian | Dobro veče / Akšem Hajrula |
| Breton | Nozvezh vat |
| Bulgarian | Добър вечер (Dobãr večer) |
| Catalan | Bona nit |
| Chamorro | Buenas noches |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 晚安 (máahn ón) 晚上好 (máahnseuhng hóu) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 晚安 (wǎnān) 晚上好 (wǎnshànghǎo) |
| Chinese (Taiwanese) | 晚安 (buan2-an) |
| Cimbrian | Guuten aabend |
| Cornish | Gorthugher da, Gothewhar vaze |
| Croatian | Dobra večer |
| Czech | Dobrý večer |
| Dalecarian | Góð kveld |
| Danish | God aften |
| Dutch | Goeden avond |
| Esperanto | Bonan vesperon |
| Estonian | Tere õhtust |
| Faroese | Gott kvøld |
| Finnish | Hyvää iltaa |
| French | Bonsoir |
| Frisian (West) | Goejûn |
| Friulian | Buinesere |
| Gaelic (Irish) | Tráthnóna maith (duit/daibh) |
| Gaelic (Manx) | Fastyr mie |
| Gaelic (Scottish) | Feasgar math |
| German | Guten Abend |
| Greek | Kαλησπέρα
(Kalispéra) - when you come καλό βράδυ (kali bradu) - when you go |
| Greenlandic | Inuugujaq |
| Haitian Creole | Bonswa |
| Hawaiian | Aloha ahiahi |
| Hebrew | (erev tov) ערב טוב |
| Hindi | नमस्ते (Namaste) |
| Hungarian | Jó estét (kívánok) |
| Icelandic | Góða kvöldið |
| Ilocano | Naimbag a rabii |
| Indonesian | Selamat sore |
| Italian | Buona sera |
| Japanese | 今晩は (konbanwa) |
| Jèrriais | Bônsouair |
| Kashubian | Dobri wieczór |
| Kazakh | Қайырлы жаріқ (Qayırlı zhariq) |
| Korean | 안녕하십니까 (annyeonghashimnikka) |
| Ladino | (Buenas tardes) בואינאס טארדיס |
| Latvian | Labvakar |
| Limburgish | Gojenaovend |
| Lithuanian | Labas vakaras |
| Luxembourgish | Gudde Obend |
| Macedonian | Добра вечер (Dobra vecher) |
| Malay | Selamat malam |
| Maltese | Bonswa / Il-Lejla it-tajba |
| Māori | Kia ora |
| Mauritian Creole | Bonswar |
| Mongolian | Оройн мэнд (Oroin mend) |
| Norwegian | God kveld |
| Occitan | Bonser |
| Papiamentu | Bon nochi |
| Persian | (asr bekhair) عصر بخير |
| Polish | Dobry wieczór Dobrego wieczoru (used when leaving) |
| Portuguese | Boa tarde
|
| Romanian | Bună seara |
| Russian | Добрый вечер (Dobryj večer) |
| Sardinian | Bonas tardas |
| Scots | Guid forenicht, Guid eenin |
| Serbian | Добро вече (Dobro veče) |
| Sesotho | Fonane (to one person) Fonaneng (to more than one person) |
| Sicilian | Bona sira |
| Slovak | Dobrý večer |
| Slovenian | Dober večer |
| Sorbian | Dobry wjechor |
| Spanish | Buenas tardes / Buenas noches |
| Stellingwarfs | Goeienaovend |
| Swahili | Habari ya jioni |
| Swedish | God kväll |
| Tagalog | Magandang gabi po (frm) Magandang gabi (inf) |
| Thai | สวัสดีครับ/ค่ะ (sawùt dee krúp/kâ) |
| Tok Pisin | Apinum / Gut nait |
| Turkish | İyi akşamlar |
| Ukrainian | Добрий вечір (Dobryj večir) |
| Urdu | (roz bakhair) روز بخير |
| Uzbek | Hayirli kech |
| Venda | Ri perile |
| Vietnamese | Chào buổi tối |
| Welsh | Noswaith dda |
| Yapese | Fal'e baleyal |
| Yiddish | (Gutn ovnt) גוטן אָוונט |
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, please
contact me. If you can provide audio recordings
of any of these phrases, please send them to
You can send me audio files in any format. If you don't know how to make recordings on a computer, you can send me recordings on audio cassette. Let me know if you want to do this and I'll send you my snailmail address. Or you can call me on Skype (omniglot) and I'll do the recording.
Useful phrases in various European languages
http://www.geocities.com/mailjohan/
Welcome | Hello | How are you? | Long time no see | What's your name? | Where are you from? | Pleased to meet you | Good morning | Good afternoon | Good evening | Good night | Good bye | Good luck | Cheers/Good health | Have a nice day | Bon appetit | Bon voyage | I don't understand | Please say that again | Please speak more slowly | Can you please write it down? | Do you speak ...? | Excuse me | How much is this? | Sorry | Thank you | Where's the toilet? | This gentleman/lady will pay for everything | Would you like to dance with me? | I love you | Get well soon | How do you say ... in [your language]? | Leave me alone! | Help! | Call the police! | Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year | Happy Easter | Happy Birthday | Idioms | It's all Greek to me | It's raining cats and dogs | As easy as falling off a log | A sandwich short of a picnic | When pigs fly | 'Useful' phrases | My hovercraft is full of eels | Tongue twisters | Proverbs, quotations and sayings about language | One language is never enough | Stop the world, I want to get off! | Days of the week
Copyright 1998- Simon Ager