Hola
/ola/from spelling rules
Hola is the Spanish word for hello.
Hola is the most basic and widely used word for "hello" in Spanish. While it is suitable for both formal and informal situations, there are other greetings used depending on the time of day or level of familiarity. For example, Buenos días is used from early morning until noon and Buenas tardes is used from noon until evening. To ask how someone is, you might use the informal ¿Qué tal? or ¿Cómo estás? or the casual ¿Qué pasa? to mean "what's up?" or "what's going on?"
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
Hola is generally considered more informal than using time-specific greetings like Buenos días.
How do you pronounce it?
/ola/
Did you know?
- The word hola likely originated as a command to stop or a way to hail a ferryman, rather than a friendly greeting.
- The word hola is a homophone for ola, which means 'wave' in the ocean, a common pun in Spanish wordplay.
- The silent h in hola is a remnant of the language's evolution. In Old Spanish, the 'h' was often pronounced as a soft breathy sound similar to the English 'h'.
Examples in context
- ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?Hello! How are you?
- ¡Hola! ¿Qué pasa?Hello! What's up?
- Hola, ¿cómo estás?Hello, how are you?
- Hola a todos.Hello everyone.
- ¡Hola! ¡Qué gusto verte!Hello! It is good to see you!
Example conversation
Daniel and Lucía meet in a park.
- Daniel¡Hola, Lucía!Hello, Lucía!
- LucíaHola, Daniel. ¿Qué tal?Hello, Daniel. How's it going?
- DanielMuy bien, gracias.Very well, thank you.
- LucíaMe alegro mucho.I am very happy to hear that.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries hola, CC BY-SA 4.0.
