Greetings in Italian: ciao, buongiorno, buonasera, salve, arrivederci

Ciao: the Italian greeting that went round the world

Ciao is the Italian greeting most people already know, and it means both hello and goodbye. Treccani's dictionary traces it to the Venetian s-ciao or s-ciavo, literally (I am your) slave, a courteous formula of the kind found in many languages. Treccani describes it as a friendly greeting, once frequent mainly in northern Italy and now in international use, said on meeting or parting.

The important limit is the person. Treccani says ciao is addressed to one or more people a speaker calls tu, the familiar you. Among friends, family, children and colleagues of the same age it is normal; to a shop assistant of a certain age, an official or a teacher it can sound too familiar. Ciao in the closing line of a letter is rarer, and Treccani calls it very informal there.

Italian Wikipedia's article on the word adds the history: ciao entered Italian only in the 20th century, after spreading as an informal greeting from the 19th, and Italian emigration then carried it into many other languages, mostly as a goodbye, from French tchao to Czech čau and Japanese chao. The article points out that servus in central Europe has the same origin. With children, fare ciao means waving, opening and closing the hand, a use Treccani records as well.

Buongiorno, buonasera, buonanotte: greeting by the time of day

The polite greetings follow the clock. Buongiorno, good day, is the greeting of the morning and, as Wiktionary notes, of the very early afternoon too. Buonasera takes over after that. Treccani defines it as a greeting and wish used in the afternoon or evening, on meeting or on leaving, and adds that in Tuscany it starts from the very first part of the afternoon. A visitor walking into a shop at three o'clock in Florence will hear buonasera.

Buonanotte is the one that is only said at parting. Treccani's definition is the greeting with which one takes leave late at night, before going to bed. Arriving somewhere at eleven at night, Italians still say buonasera.

All three are written as one word or two. Treccani lists buongiorno and buona sera, buona notte as the more common spellings for the evening and night forms, but buonasera and buonanotte in one word are fully correct. Buona giornata and buona serata, have a good day and have a good evening, are the matching wishes for someone who is leaving.

Formal and informal greetings: tu, Lei and salve

Italian divides people into those addressed with tu and those addressed with Lei, and greetings follow the line. To a friend: ciao, come stai? To a stranger, an older person or anyone in an official role: buongiorno, come sta? The verb changes from the second person, stai, to the third, sta.

The farewell changes too. Arrivederci is the general goodbye, until we see each other again. Treccani notes that for a person addressed with Lei, with whom one is not on familiar terms, arrivederla is considered more courteous, and that it is said to a woman and a man alike. In everyday use arrivederci is accepted in both situations.

Salve sits between the two. It is a learned borrowing from Latin salvē, and it fits tu and Lei alike. Wiktionary's usage note is cool about it: salve is not common as a greeting, being felt as stiff even on formal occasions, and it works for one person or several.

Pronto on the phone, and common mistakes

Italians answer the phone with pronto, literally ready. Wiktionary lists the telephone sense, hello when answering the phone, beside ready and prompt.

Buonanotte is never a greeting on arrival in the evening; the right word then is buonasera. A second slip is ciao to someone who expects Lei: it is not rude, but it sets a familiar tone the other person did not choose. Buongiorno is never wrong before the afternoon. Benvenuto, welcome, agrees with the person greeted, so a woman is benvenuta and a group benvenuti.