hola
/ˈola/
The Spanish word for 'hi' is hola.
hola is the basic translation of 'hi' in Spanish and serves as a friendly, informal greeting. Other ways to greet people include Saludos, which means 'greetings' and can be used as a casual way to say 'hi' or 'regards'. You might also use ¡Qué tal!, an informal way to say 'what's up' or 'how's it going'.
Meaning: friendly, informal greeting (intj)
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Mexico, you can say ¡Hola, qué onda! to mean 'hi, what's up'. In Spain, the phrase ¡Hola, qué pasa! is used to mean 'hi, what's happening'.
How does it change in a sentence?
In written Spanish, an exclamation mark is used at both the beginning and the end of an exclamatory greeting, such as ¡Hola!
How do you pronounce it?
/ˈola/
Did you know?
- The Spanish hola shares a likely origin with the French expression holà, which was originally used as a command to tell someone to 'stop' or 'hey, stay there'.
- While English speakers use 'hello' to answer the phone, a Spanish speaker would rarely use hola as a standard way to answer a telephone call.
- The silent 'h' in hola is a consistent rule in Spanish, meaning the word sounds exactly like ola, which means 'wave'.
Examples in context
- ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal estás?Hi! How are you?This example shows how to use hola in a greeting.Tatoeba #535238 by Shishir, translation #30316 by Zifre
- Hola chicos, soy Mike.Hi guys, I'm Mike.This example shows hola being used to introduce oneself to a group.Tatoeba #1020897 by Shishir, translation #1020895 by CP
- ¡Hola! Soy nuevo aquí.Hi! I'm new here.This example shows hola used when someone is new to a location.Tatoeba #1666523 by marcelostockle, translation #1654229 by Spamster
- 75 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
María and Daniel meet at a coffee shop.
- María¡Hola, Daniel!Hi, Daniel!
- DanielHola, María. ¿Cómo estás?Hi, María. How are you?
- MaríaMuy bien, gracias.Very well, thanks.
- DanielMe alegro mucho.I'm very glad.
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.
