Lesson 1 — Your First Hebrew Lesson: Greetings

Your first Hebrew lesson — greetings and Shalom

Welcome to your very first Hebrew Lesson on HebrewMastery.com . The following lesson is quite easy, we will discuss how say some of the very common Hebrew greetings. Even if you already started learning some hebrew this lesson is a good refresher for the basics. The videos on this page are purely optional, but if you have extra time I recommend you watch them. They are from Hebrew Mastery's Youtube channel.

A note of gender in Hebrew: Hebrew verbs and some phrases change depending on whether you are speaking to a man (m) or a woman (f). This lesson already shows you the first examples. Pay attention to the m/f column — it becomes very important later.

Core Greetings

Below you will find a table of all the basic greetings you should know as a beginner. It's worth noting for those who come from a cultural background of languages that have level of respect, the in Hebrew these practically can be said to anyone , meaning there are really no strict rules (as oppose to for example Japanese where age and social status may determine how you greet another person).

Without further delay, lets look at how we greet someone!

Hebrew	Transliteration	English	Notes
שָׁלוֹם	Shalom	Hello / Peace / Goodbye	The most important Hebrew word. Used for both hello and goodbye.
הֵי	Hey	Hi	Informal, borrowed from English. Very common among young people.
בֹּקֶר טוֹב	Boker tov	Good morning	Literal: "morning good". Word order is reversed vs English.
בֹּקֶר אוֹר	Boker or	Good morning (reply)	Literal: "morning of light". Said in response to Boker tov.
צָהֳרַיִם טוֹבִים	Tsohorayim tovim	Good afternoon	Rarely used in practice — Israelis just say שָׁלוֹם at any time of day.
עֶרֶב טוֹב	Erev tov	Good evening	More formal, used in greetings when arriving somewhere in the evening.
לַיְלָה טוֹב	Layla tov	Good night	Said when leaving at night or going to sleep.

In Modern Israel Shalom and Hi are used the most around people you know, boker tov can sound, overly polite In emails and business meetings you may hear those more often. You can also check out this video for more on greetings:

How Are You?

Now that we know how to greet someone we need to learn the next most important thing which is to ask how they are, below there are ways to say "how are you" in Hebrew. Pay attention to the first two! and you'll notice it's different when addressing a male and a female.

In the table below I've provided two ways of saying how are you as well as some answers.

Hebrew	Transliteration	English	Notes
מַה שְּׁלוֹמְךָ?	Ma shlomcha?	How are you?	To a man (m)
מַה שְּׁלוֹמֵךְ?	Ma shlomech?	How are you?	To a woman (f)
מַה נִּשְׁמַע?	Ma nishma?	What's up? / How's it going?	Colloquial. Literal: "what is heard?" Very common in everyday speech.
טוֹב	Tov	Good / Fine	Basic positive response.
בְּסֵדֶר	Beseder	OK / Alright	Very common. Literally "in order". Can also mean "that's fine" as a reply to a question.
יֹפִי	Yofi	Great! / Beautiful!	An enthusiastic positive response. Also means "beauty" as a noun.
לֹא כָּל כָּךְ	Lo kol kach	Not so great	Literal: "not so much". Honest answer when things are not great.
אֵין חֲדָשׁוֹת	Eyn chadashot	Nothing new	A common reply to מַה נִּשְׁמַע. Literal: "there are no news".

Tip: שָׁלוֹם (Shalom) works for both hello and goodbye — exactly like "Ciao" in Italian. You will never go wrong using it.

Example Conversations

A: שָׁלוֹם! מַה שְּׁלוֹמְךָ? — Shalom! Ma shlomcha? (Hello! How are you? — to a man)

B: בְּסֵדֶר, תּוֹדָה! מַה שְּׁלוֹמֵךְ? — Beseder, toda! Ma shlomech? (OK, thanks! How are you? — to a woman)

A: טוֹב — Tov (Good)

For more about asking 'How are you in Hebrew' please check the below youtube video: