How to Say “Hello” in Quechua
The Quechua word for hello is allillanchu.
Quechua was the language of the Inca Empire and is still spoken by about 9 million people in the Andes, mainly in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, where the local form is called Kichwa. It is not a single uniform language but a family of related varieties. Quechua is an official language in Peru and Bolivia alongside Spanish.
Quechua is written in Latin letters and has only three basic vowels, a, i and u, though e and o are heard next to some consonants. Words are built by adding suffixes, so a single word can carry a whole phrase. Spellings differ between countries and between older and newer systems, which is why place names like Cusco also appear as Qosqo. English words from Quechua include llama, condor and jerky.
| Family | Quechuan |
|---|---|
| Native speakers | about 9 million (2007) |
| Official in | Peru, Bolivia |
| Script | Latin alphabet |
| Codes | qu (ISO 639-1), que (ISO 639-3) |
Speaker number: Nationalencyklopedin (2007), via Wikidata. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
The Quechua word for woman is warmi. warmi is a noun used to refer to an adult female person.
In Quechua, the way to say “hi” is allillanchu. allillanchu is used as a friendly, informal greeting to ask how someone is doing.
The Quechua word for dog is allqu. The term refers to the animal known as a dog.
The English word “moon” is killa in Quechua. killa refers to the natural satellite of planet Earth.
The Quechua word for “yes” is arí. arí is a particle used to indicate agreement or acceptance.
The Quechua word for love is munakuy. munakuy is a noun used to refer to the concept of strong affection.
The Quechua word for cat is misi. This noun refers to the domestic species of cat.
The Quechua word llama means llama. This term refers to the South American mammal of the camel family, specifically the species Lama glama.