hola
/ˈola/
Hi in Spanish is hola.
hola is a friendly, informal greeting. In more formal situations, you might use Buenos días (good morning) until around noon or Buenas tardes (good afternoon) from noon until the evening. For example, to greet a female formally in the afternoon, you can say Buenas tardes, señora.
Meaning: friendly, informal greeting (intj)
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈola/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly pronounce the 'h' in hola as an aspirated sound like in the English word 'hot'.
Did you know?
- The Spanish word hola likely comes from the French holà, which was originally used as a command to tell someone to stop.
- In many Latin American countries, the greeting 'hola' is often accompanied by a physical gesture like a handshake or even a light kiss on the cheek between friends.
- The spelling of hola can sometimes be confused with the word ola, which means 'wave' in the ocean.
Examples in context
- ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal estás?Hi! How are you?Tatoeba #535238 by Shishir, translation #30316 by Zifre
- Hola chicos, soy Mike.Hi guys, I'm Mike.Tatoeba #1020897 by Shishir, translation #1020895 by CP
- ¡Hola! Soy nuevo aquí.Hi! I'm new here.Tatoeba #1666523 by marcelostockle, translation #1654229 by Spamster
- 75 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
María and Daniel meet in a hallway.
- María¡Hola, Daniel!Hi, Daniel!
- DanielHola, María. ¿Cómo estás?Hi, María. How are you?
- MaríaMuy bien, gracias.Very well, thank you.
- DanielMe alegro mucho.I am very happy to hear that.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hi” translations and entries hola, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries hola, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
