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Everyday Greetings to Start a Conversation

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Trivia:
Make a good impression when meeting Filipinos by being friendly. Smile and warmly greet them. Otherwise, you’ll be labelled as suplado for men or suplada for women. It means that you are being snobbish or boastful.

Filipinos are known for being friendly people. They are warm, hospitable, and sociable. Starting a conversation is easy. Smile. Be polite. Be approachable. A simple smile and a warm greeting like the greetings on this page can help you strike up a friendly chat with Filipinos.

Standard Filipino Greeting:

Customarily, Filipinos greet each other by saying "Good Morning", "Good Evening," etc.

This greeting starts with the word “magandá which comes from the root word “gandá”, which means beauty. "Magandá" is defined as “beautiful.”

Following this word you can use a word that describes the time of the day, for example: morning (umága), noon (tangháli), afternoon (hápon), or evening (gabí).

( Note that “magandá” is changed to “magandáng” with the added "ng" letter at the end. This is done to link two words together. You'll learn more about how and why words are linked together in later lessons. )

You can see and hear some examples of the commonly used greetings in the Filipino language below:
Markup
Examples:
Good morning
Magandáng umaga Play audio #1207 Play audio #494
Good afternoon
Magandáng hapon Play audio #1208 Play audio #493
Good afternoon
Magandáng tanghaPlay audio #1209 Play audio #492
Good evening
Magandáng gabí Play audio #1210 Play audio #495
Markup
Examples:
Good morning
Magandang umaga Play audio #1207 Play audio #494
Good afternoon
Magandang hapon Play audio #1208 Play audio #493
Good afternoon
Magandang tanghali Play audio #1209 Play audio #492
Good evening
Magandang gabi Play audio #1210 Play audio #495
Tanghali / Noon Time:

“Tanghali” is a term not found in English, and refers to the time around Noon, or roughly from 11am to 1pm. Between these times, it is appropriate to use magandáng tanghali, instead of magandáng hapon.

Greeting Responses:

In response to a greeting, you can return the same greeting with the words “rin” or “namán” or "sa iyó" at the end.

The words "rin" and "namán" mean "also" or "too".

( The word "namán" actually has multiple other definitions based on context, which we'll get in to more in future lessons. )

"Sa iyó" is translated in English as "to you". You might hear it as the shortened form "sa 'yo," which common in both oral and written tradition.

Markup
Examples:
Good morning to you, too
Magandáng umaga rin sa iyóPlay audio #1250 Play audio #497
Good afternoon to you, too
Magandáng hapon namán sa iyó Play audio #1251Play audio #496
Markup
Examples:
Good morning to you, too
Magandang umaga rin sa iyoPlay audio #1250 Play audio #497
Good afternoon to you, too
Magandang hapon naman sa iyo Play audio #1251Play audio #496
Example Greetings Conversation:

Let's see these greetings in a conversation sample to see how these are used.
Markup
Examples:
Juan: Good morning, Jane!

Jane: Good morning, too, Juan!
Juan: Magandáng umaga, Jane! Play audio #1252

Jane: Magandáng umaga rin sa iyó, Juan! Play audio #500
Juan: Good evening, Jane.

Jane: Good evening to you, too!
Juan: Magandáng gabí, Jane. Play audio #1253

Jane: Magandáng gabí naman sa iyó Play audio #498
Markup
Examples:
Juan: Good morning, Jane!

Jane: Good morning, too, Juan!
Juan: Magandang umaga, Jane! Play audio #1252

Jane: Magandang umaga rin sa iyo, Juan! Play audio #500
Juan: Good evening, Jane.

Jane: Good evening to you, too!
Juan: Magandang gabí, Jane. Play audio #1253

Jane: Magandang gabí naman sa iyo Play audio #498

This standard greeting is easy to learn and can help open your world to conversation in the Filipino language.
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Next: Greetings Drill

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Common Expressions