How to Say "Hi" in Spanish - How To Say Guide

hola

/ˈola/

Hi in Spanish is hola.

hola is the most common way to say hello in Spanish and is suitable for both formal and informal situations.

Meaning: friendly, informal greeting (intj)

How do you pronounce it?

/ˈola/

English speakers often mistakenly pronounce the 'h' in hola as an aspirated sound like the English 'h' in 'hi'.

While hola is the standard greeting, its historical ancestor holà in French actually functioned as a command meaning 'hey, stop!' rather than a friendly salutation.
Depending on the country, hola is often immediately followed by a regional slang term for 'friend', such as tío in Spain or parce in Colombia.
In some regions, people use hola in a repetitive way, such as hola, hola, to sound more enthusiastic or welcoming.

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal estás?
Hi! How are you?
This sentence shows how to use hola to ask how someone is.
Tatoeba #535238 by Shishir, translation #30316 by Zifre
Hola chicos, soy Mike.
Hi guys, I'm Mike.
This sentence shows a greeting using hola to introduce yourself to a group.
Tatoeba #1020897 by Shishir, translation #1020895 by CP
¡Hola! Soy nuevo aquí.
Hi! I'm new here.
This sentence shows how to use hola when introducing yourself as a newcomer.
Tatoeba #1666523 by marcelostockle, translation #1654229 by Spamster
75 more sentences on Tatoeba

Daniel and María meet at a coffee shop.

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.

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