Hello, Goodbye, and Thank You Around the World

113 questions · by Quizbun

A globe-trotting, slightly silly tour of the three phrases every traveller actually needs — hello, goodbye, and thank you — across 40-plus languages. Each question pairs the right word with its original spelling, an English-friendly pronunciation, and the surprising literal meaning hiding inside it: why ciao means 'slave', why Japanese tiptoes around sayōnara, and why your breezy English 'bye' is secretly a blessing. Explanation-first, so you learn the nuance even when you guess wrong.

Start

Questions

Not answered. How do you say hello in Spanish?
Not answered. What does the Spanish goodbye adiós literally mean?
Not answered. Which word is thank you in Spanish?
Not answered. The standard daytime French greeting bonjour literally means…
Not answered. What does the French goodbye au revoir literally mean?
Not answered. Merci, the French 'thank you', is a cousin of which English word?
Not answered. Which is a normal German hello?
Not answered. Auf Wiedersehen literally promises…
Not answered. What is thank you in German?
Not answered. The Italian ciao (used for both 'hi' and 'bye') comes from a phrase meaning…
Not answered. Besides ciao, which is a polite Italian hello?
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Italian?
Not answered. What does the Mandarin greeting 你好 (nǐ hǎo) literally mean?
Not answered. The Mandarin goodbye 再见 (zàijiàn) literally means…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Mandarin Chinese?
Not answered. こんにちは (konnichiwa) is a daytime hello — but it's literally an unfinished sentence. The leftover beginning means…
Not answered. Why do Japanese speakers often avoid saying さようなら (sayōnara) to friends and family?
Not answered. The Japanese ありがとう (arigatō) grew from a word that literally meant…
Not answered. The casual Korean 안녕 (annyeong) can mean both 'hi' and 'bye'. Its root meaning is…
Not answered. Formal Korean has TWO goodbyes. You say 안녕히 가세요 (annyeonghi gaseyo) — 'go in peace' — to whom?
Not answered. Which is a standard polite thank you in Korean?
Not answered. The full Russian hello Здравствуйте (zdravstvuyte) literally wishes you…
Not answered. What does the Russian До свидания (do svidaniya) literally mean?
Not answered. The Russian Спасибо (spasibo) is a squashed-together version of which phrase?
Not answered. The greeting السلام عليكم (as-salāmu ʿalaykum) means…
Not answered. The Arabic farewell مع السلامة (maʿa as-salāma) literally means…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Arabic?
Not answered. The Hindi greeting नमस्ते (namaste) literally means…
Not answered. Which is a common Hindi/Urdu way to say goodbye?
Not answered. What's a frequent surprise about saying thank you (धन्यवाद, dhanyavād) in everyday Hindi?
Not answered. Which is hello in Portuguese?
Not answered. The casual Brazilian goodbye tchau is borrowed from which language?
Not answered. In Portuguese a man says obrigado and a woman says obrigada for 'thank you'. Why?
Not answered. The Hebrew שלום (shalom) serves as hello AND goodbye. What does it literally mean?
Not answered. Besides shalom, a very common Hebrew goodbye is להתראות (lehitra'ot), meaning…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Hebrew?
Not answered. The informal Greek γειά σου (yia sou) — used for both hi and bye — literally means…
Not answered. The Greek goodbye αντίο (antío) was borrowed from Italian and ultimately means…
Not answered. The Greek ευχαριστώ (efcharistó) ('thank you') gave English which church word?
Not answered. The Turkish hello merhaba is a cousin of which other language's greeting?
Not answered. Turkish has two goodbyes. The person staying says güle güle ('go smilingly'); what does the person leaving say?
Not answered. A famously tongue-twisting Turkish 'thank you' is teşekkür ederim. What's a simpler everyday alternative?
Not answered. The Thai สวัสดี (sawatdi) works for hi and bye and was coined in the 1930s from a Sanskrit word meaning…
Not answered. What's the most common way to say 'goodbye' in everyday Thai?
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Thai?
Not answered. Why is saying 'hello' in Vietnamese trickier than memorising one word?
Not answered. The Vietnamese goodbye tạm biệt literally means…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Vietnamese?
Not answered. Tourists learn jambo for hello, but what do locals more naturally say?
Not answered. The Swahili asante ('thank you') appears in which famous Disney song lyric?
Not answered. What does the Swahili goodbye kwaheri convey?
Not answered. Aloha famously means hello, goodbye, and love. Its deeper literal sense is…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Hawaiian?
Not answered. Besides reusing aloha, a Hawaiian way to say 'until we meet again' is…
Not answered. The versatile Māori greeting kia ora literally means…
Not answered. Māori farewells split by movement: the person leaving is told haere rā ('go'); what does the person staying hear?
Not answered. What's a common Māori way to say thank you?
Not answered. The Zulu greeting sawubona literally means…
Not answered. Zulu farewells depend on who moves. To someone leaving you say hamba kahle ('go well'); to someone staying you say…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Zulu?
Not answered. The casual Polish hello cześć is notoriously hard to pronounce. It sounds roughly like…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Polish?
Not answered. What's a very common informal Dutch goodbye?
Not answered. Why do Dutch learners meet two words for 'thank you' — dank je and dank u?
Not answered. Which is hello in Persian (Farsi)?
Not answered. Which French word do Persian speakers very commonly use for 'thank you'?
Not answered. The Indonesian/Malay terima kasih ('thank you') literally means…
Not answered. Indonesian/Malay has two goodbyes. You tell the person staying selamat tinggal ('stay well'); what do you say to the one leaving?
Not answered. The Tagalog hello kumusta was borrowed and reshaped from which language?
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Tagalog/Filipino?
Not answered. The Irish greeting Dia duit literally means…
Not answered. The Irish goodbye slán comes from a word meaning…
Not answered. Which everyday Czech greeting (used for both hi and bye) sounds delightfully like a pirate's cry?
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Czech?
Not answered. Which is an informal Ukrainian hello?
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Ukrainian?
Not answered. How did a Roman say hello to one person?
Not answered. A Roman parting word, valē, literally means…
Not answered. A casual Finnish hello is moi. What's a fun thing Finns do with it to say goodbye?
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Finnish?
Not answered. The Swedish hello hej becomes a goodbye how?
Not answered. The casual Norwegian goodbye ha det is short for a phrase meaning…
Not answered. Which is a Danish way to say goodbye?
Not answered. What's an everyday Icelandic goodbye that English speakers find adorably simple?
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Welsh?
Not answered. The Hungarian hi/bye szia is often linked to the Latin servus ('servant') — making it a relative of which Italian word?
Not answered. The Romanian salut (a casual hi/bye) comes from a Latin word meaning…
Not answered. The Tamil greeting வணக்கம் (vanakkam) expresses…
Not answered. The Bengali ধন্যবাদ (dhonnobad) is a 'thank you' that, like its Hindi twin, is often felt as…
Not answered. How do you say thank you in Mongolian?
Not answered. In Esperanto, the constructed international language, hello is saluton. How is its 'thank you' formed?
Not answered. Select every word below that can mean both 'hello' AND 'goodbye'.
Not answered. Which of these goodbyes literally commend you 'to God'?
Not answered. Which goodbyes literally mean some version of 'until we see each other again'?
Not answered. Which greetings are, at root, a wish for health or wellness?
Not answered. Which languages use a different goodbye depending on whether you're the one leaving or the one staying?
Not answered. Which greetings or farewells come from a root meaning 'peace'?
Not answered. Which casual greetings began as a flowery way of saying '[I am] your servant'?
Not answered. In which of these languages do many speakers commonly use the French 'merci' for everyday thanks?
Not answered. Which of these greetings literally describe a physical gesture or perception of the other person (bowing, seeing)?
Not answered. Some languages turn a greeting into a goodbye just by doubling or tweaking it. Which examples are real?
Not answered. Type the Hawaiian word that means hello, goodbye, and love.
Not answered. Type the Hawaiian word for 'thank you' (the one on Hawaii's trash cans).
Not answered. Type the Italian word — used for both 'hi' and 'bye' — that began as a phrase meaning '[I am] your servant'.
Not answered. Type the casual Czech greeting that sounds just like a pirate's 'ahoy'.
Not answered. Type the Swahili word for 'thank you' (as in Rafiki's 'Asante ___, squash banana').
Not answered. Type the Māori greeting (now everyday New Zealand English) that literally means 'be well / have life'.
Not answered. Type the Hebrew word that means 'peace' and serves as both hello and goodbye.
Not answered. Type the French word for 'thank you' — also borrowed into Persian and Romanian.
Not answered. Type the Spanish word for 'thank you'.
Not answered. Type the German word for 'thank you' (one word).
Not answered. Type the Finnish word for 'thank you'.
Not answered. English 'goodbye' is a worn-down contraction of 'God be with ___'. Type the missing old word.