Italian Greetings: Ciao, Buongiorno, Dottore (A1)

🔍 In short. Italian greetings sound simple until you realize the wrong one with the wrong person can feel cold, rude, or oddly familiar. Ciao works only with people you address as tu: friends, family, kids, colleagues you joke with. Buongiorno covers the morning and most of the day, buonasera takes over in the afternoon, and buonanotte closes the night. Salve is a polite neutral landing pad when you don’t know which register to pick. To say goodbye in a formal exchange you choose arrivederci; the older arrivederla survives in very formal situations. And then there are titles: signore, signora, dottore, dottoressa, professore, ingegnere, avvocato. Italians use them constantly, far more than English speakers do, and using them with confidence is part of sounding like a polite Italian, not a tourist.

This A1 guide walks you through every one of the italian greetings and titles you need in your first weeks of Italian, with a Torino caffè dialogue at the historic Mulassano in Piazza Castello to show the words in action. By the end you’ll know which italian greetings match which situations.

Ciao: only with people you call tu

Walk into a friend’s kitchen in Torino and the first word you’ll hear is ciao. Of all italian greetings, ciao is the most familiar one, and it works both ways: ciao means hello when you arrive and goodbye when you leave, at any hour of the day or night. Friends say ciao, family members say ciao, kids say ciao to their teachers and to other kids, and adults say ciao to colleagues with whom they are on first-name terms. Among italian greetings, ciao is also the only one that breaks the tu/Lei rule by being strictly tu-only.

What ciao does not work for is a stranger you would address with the polite pronoun Lei. Walk into a bank, a notary’s office or a hospital reception and you do not say ciao to the person behind the counter. Walk into a small shop you’ve never visited and the same rule applies. If you call someone signora or dottore, you do not greet them with ciao. This is the first rule of italian greetings for beginners, and the one English speakers slip up on most often.

• Ciao Camilla, come stai?
  Hi Camilla, how are you?
• Ciao mamma, ci vediamo stasera.
  Bye Mum, see you tonight.
• Ciao ragazzi, a domani!
  Bye guys, see you tomorrow!
• Ciao Tommaso, grazie per il caffè.
  Bye Tommaso, thanks for the coffee.
• Ciao Federica, ci sentiamo dopo.
  Bye Federica, we’ll talk later.

The opposite mistake is the one English speakers make most often: a tourist walks into a bakery in Verona and cheerfully says ciao to the baker. The baker won’t be offended, but it will sound oddly familiar. The right opening is buongiorno. As a beginner, follow this safe rule: if you don’t already know the person’s name, don’t start with ciao.

Italian greetings by time of day

When ciao is off the table, you reach for a time-of-day greeting. There are three core forms: buongiorno for the morning and the first part of the day, buonasera for the late afternoon and evening, and buonanotte for the very end of the day, when you or the other person are about to go to sleep. All three of these italian greetings are polite and work with anyone: a stranger, a shopkeeper, an elderly neighbour, a doctor, a colleague.

• Buongiorno, signora. Un caffè, per favore.
  Good morning, ma’am. A coffee, please.
• Buongiorno, dottoressa, ho un appuntamento alle dieci.
  Good morning, doctor, I have an appointment at ten.
• Buonasera a tutti, scusate il ritardo.
  Good evening everyone, sorry I’m late.
• Buonasera, vorrei un tavolo per due, grazie.
  Good evening, I’d like a table for two, thanks.
• Buonanotte, a domani mattina.
  Goodnight, see you tomorrow morning.

One small surprise for English speakers: italian greetings for time of day work both when you arrive and when you leave. You walk into a pharmacy and say buongiorno; you take your prescription and on the way out you say buongiorno again, or arrivederci, or both. The same holds for buonasera. Buonanotte is the exception: it only closes a conversation, never opens one, because it implies the day is over.

The boundary between buongiorno and buonasera is fuzzy and shifts by region. In Torino and most of the north, people switch around two or three in the afternoon. In parts of Tuscany, you might hear buonasera already at half past one, right after lunch. In Sicily in summer the sun stays up so long that buongiorno can carry on until seven in the evening. With these two italian greetings, follow what the people around you do, and don’t worry about the exact moment of the switch.

Salve: the safe middle ground

There’s a fifth word that belongs to the family of italian greetings and that you’ll hear constantly: salve. It sits halfway between ciao and buongiorno, and it solves a specific problem. Imagine you walk into the corner shop you’ve visited twice this week. The owner isn’t a friend, so ciao feels too familiar, but you’ve spoken before, so the very formal buongiorno, signora feels stiff. Salve bridges the gap: it’s friendly without being intimate, polite without being formal.

• Salve, una baguette e due cornetti, grazie.
  Hi, one baguette and two croissants, thanks.
• Salve, sono qui per il pacco a nome Rossi.
  Hi, I’m here for the parcel under the name Rossi.
• Salve, ha un attimo per una domanda?
  Hi, do you have a moment for a question?
• Salve a tutti, scusate il ritardo.
  Hi everyone, sorry I’m late.
• Salve dottore, posso entrare?
  Hi doctor, may I come in?

Treccani warns that salve has spread quickly among younger speakers and now turns up almost everywhere, but it advises against using it in genuinely formal settings: a job interview, a meeting with a notary, a hospital ward. For those, stick with buongiorno or buonasera. Among italian greetings, salve is the safest bet for everyday street-level encounters when you’re unsure of the register.

Saying goodbye: arrivederci, arrivederla, addio

To close a polite conversation, the workhorse is arrivederci: literally “until we see each other again”. You hear it dozens of times a day in Italy: at the post office, at the bus stop, at the till. It works with anyone, whether you address them as tu or as Lei, and it is one of the most reliable italian greetings for a beginner to memorize.

• Grazie mille, arrivederci.
  Thanks a lot, goodbye.
• Arrivederci, a presto!
  Goodbye, see you soon!
• Buona giornata e arrivederci.
  Have a good day and goodbye.
• Va bene così, grazie e arrivederci.
  That’s fine like that, thanks and goodbye.

You may also meet the older form arrivederla. It comes from the polite Lei and is strictly singular and very formal. Today it sounds slightly old-fashioned: you might still hear it from an elderly waiter, a hotel concierge, or a doorman who wants to show extra deference. Modern speakers, even with a person they address as Lei, almost always say arrivederci. Among closing italian greetings, learn to recognize arrivederla, but you don’t need to use it as a beginner.

Finally, addio. English speakers sometimes think of it as the basic word for “goodbye”, because it looks like adieu. In Italian, of all the italian greetings, addio is actually the strongest, most dramatic farewell: it suggests you won’t see the other person again, or that you’re leaving for good. Italians use it rarely, often in songs, films and emotional scenes. In Tuscany you may still hear addio in its older, neutral sense, but in most of Italy, if a Torinese friend says addio instead of ciao, something has gone wrong.

Titles: signore, signora, dottore and friends

Titles are the natural extension of italian greetings: they slot in right after buongiorno or buonasera. Italians use titles far more readily than English speakers. Step into a notary’s office in Lucca and you will be addressed as signore or signora from the moment you sit down. The title softens the conversation and signals respect; skipping it can sound brusque. The basic pair is:

• signore: sir, Mr (any adult man you address formally)
• signora: ma’am, Mrs (any adult woman, married or not, addressed formally)
• signorina: miss (an unmarried young woman; nowadays often dropped in favour of signora)

Note a small but important detail. When you call out to someone, signore and signora stand alone. When you place them before a surname, signore drops its final e: signor Rossi, not signore Rossi. The feminine signora keeps its a: signora Bianchi.

• Buongiorno, signore. Si accomodi.
  Good morning, sir. Please take a seat.
• Buongiorno, signora. Come la posso aiutare?
  Good morning, ma’am. How can I help you?
• Mi scusi, signor Rossi, ha un minuto?
  Excuse me, Mr Rossi, do you have a minute?
• Arrivederci, signora Bianchi, grazie ancora.
  Goodbye, Mrs Bianchi, thanks again.

Beyond signore and signora, Italians love professional titles, and they all pair with the formal half of italian greetings. The most common is dottore (or dottoressa for women), and here English speakers get a surprise: in Italy, dottore does not only mean a medical doctor. Anyone who has completed a university degree, a laurea, technically earns the title. A young woman who just graduated in psychology is dottoressa; a bank manager is often greeted as dottore; even a customer in a Roman bar may be flatteringly called dottore by the barista. Don’t take it literally: the title is mostly a polite formula.

• Buongiorno, dottore. Il tavolo è pronto.
  Good morning, doctor. The table is ready.
• Salve dottoressa, vorrei rinnovare la ricetta.
  Hi doctor, I’d like to renew my prescription.
• Mi scusi, dottor Conti, ho una domanda sul contratto.
  Excuse me, Mr Conti, I have a question about the contract.
• Arrivederci, dottoressa, e grazie del consiglio.
  Goodbye, doctor, and thanks for the advice.

Other professional titles you’ll hear constantly:

• professore / professoressa: teacher (any level, from high school upward) or university professor
• ingegnere: engineer (no separate feminine in everyday use; many say l’ingegnere Bianchi for women too)
• avvocato: lawyer (the feminine avvocatessa exists but is increasingly avoided; many women lawyers prefer just avvocato)
• architetto: architect
• maestro / maestra: primary school teacher, music teacher, master craftsman

Just like signor, the title professore drops its final e before a surname: professor Conti, not professore Conti. Dottore follows the same pattern: dottor Conti. Ingegnere drops its e too: ingegner Bianchi. Memorize this and your Italian instantly sounds more polished.

When you use a professional title, the polite pronoun Lei follows automatically. Using a title with tu sounds wrong to a native ear: no one says Ingegnere, accomodati, only Ingegnere, si accomodi. In writing, Italians use standard abbreviations, as Treccani notes: dott. for dottore, dott.ssa for dottoressa, prof. for professore, ing. for ingegnere, avv. for avvocato, arch. for architetto.

Tu or Lei: how to start the conversation

Italian, like French and German, has two ways to say “you” to one person. Tu is the informal, intimate form; Lei is the polite, respectful form. The choice of italian greetings you pick at the start of a conversation reflects the pronoun you’ll use throughout, and getting the pairing right is what makes italian greetings work socially. As a beginner, the safest defaults are:

• Use tu with: family, friends, children, classmates, colleagues your age in an informal workplace, fellow members of a club or a sports team.
• Use Lei with: strangers older than you, shop staff you don’t know personally, doctors, lawyers, teachers, hotel and restaurant staff, anyone you call by a professional title.
• When in doubt: start with Lei. It is always safe to switch down to tu later, after the other person says diamoci del tu (“let’s use tu with each other”). Starting too familiar and having to switch back up is much more awkward.

The connection between greetings and pronouns is automatic. Ciao goes with tu: Ciao Lorenzo, come stai?. Buongiorno with a title goes with Lei: Buongiorno, dottoressa, come sta?. Notice the verb shift: stai (tu) versus sta (Lei). If you say Ciao signora, come sta?, the mismatch sounds odd, like wearing a tuxedo with sneakers: ciao is intimate, sta is formal. Match the register top to bottom.

Regional and time-zone quirks

A few small regional variations of italian greetings are worth knowing so you don’t think you’ve misheard. Buondì is a chirpier, slightly old-fashioned version of buongiorno, more common in some northern areas and in the Veneto. Buon pomeriggio (“good afternoon”) technically exists, but most Italians skip it and jump straight from buongiorno to buonasera. The shortened forms ‘giorno, ‘sera, ‘notte (with an apostrophe) appear in casual speech and texting: ‘giorno! shouted across the courtyard is a friendly half-greeting between neighbours.

You’ll also hear buona giornata and buona serata at the end of an exchange. They are not the same as buongiorno and buonasera: they mean “have a good day” and “have a good evening”, and they go on the way out, not on the way in. The barista at the Caffè Mulassano hands you your tramezzino, you pay, you say grazie, and the barista replies buona giornata. A perfect polite closing.

Two more pieces of vocabulary to add to your beginner kit: piacere (“nice to meet you”, literally “pleasure”) when you’re introduced to someone, and a presto (“see you soon”) or a domani (“see you tomorrow”) as friendly closings. None of these replace the core italian greetings, but they round out the polite exchange and make you sound less robotic.

Cheat sheet

One table to keep open in the early weeks. Match the greeting to the situation and you’ll cover ninety per cent of your daily exchanges in Italian.

Dialogue at Caffè Mulassano in Torino

Carla, a young researcher with a recent PhD, walks into Caffè Mulassano in Piazza Castello on a Tuesday morning. The historic café has been serving tramezzini since 1907 to a regular crowd of professors, lawyers and notaries from the nearby ministries. Emilio, the barista, knows half his customers by name. Watch how italian greetings and titles do the heavy lifting in just a few lines, and how italian greetings shift register naturally between Carla, the older customer, and the barista.

What to notice in the dialogue

• Buongiorno, signora: Emilio opens with the formal greeting plus title because he doesn’t know Carla by name.
• Si accomodi / le porto / gliela tengo: the polite Lei shapes the whole exchange. The verb endings give the register away.
• Buongiorno, dottoressa Bianchi: Emilio uses the professional title with the surname. The regular customer is a researcher, hence dottoressa.
• Arrivederla, dottoressa: Emilio reaches for the formal closing because the customer is older and they have an established polite relationship. Arrivederla here sounds courteous, not stiff.
• Arrivederci: Carla, younger and addressed simply as signora, uses the standard modern closing.
• Buona giornata: the polite send-off at the end, “have a good day”, not to be confused with buongiorno.

Mini-challenge

Mastering italian greetings takes a few weeks of attentive listening. Watch how Italians around you open and close every small interaction and you’ll absorb the rules without effort. Pair this guide with the quiz below, and revisit it after a week of practice to see how naturally the choices come. The right one of these italian greetings at the right moment will mark you out as a beginner who already understands the social grammar of Italy, not just its words. Keep this guide to italian greetings handy in your first weeks of conversation in Italy.

Test your understanding of italian greetings

Take the quiz below to test what you’ve learned about italian greetings and titles.

Frequently asked questions

These questions about italian greetings come from real beginner conversations on Italian-learner forums. The most common doubts about italian greetings come up in the same handful of situations: time of day, formal versus informal, titles. For an institutional overview of italian greetings and their register see the Treccani entry on saluto.

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Related guides

• Italian E vs Ed: The Eufonic ‘And’ Rule (A1). Another small but useful A1 building block for polite, fluent sentences.
• Italian Chi: Who and Whose Questions Explained (A1). The question word you’ll need right after greeting someone.
• Italian Numbers: Uno, Zero, Mille, Milione (A1). Once you’ve said buongiorno, you’ll need numbers to order at the bar.
• Italian Negation with Non: Simple Word Order (A1). Say “no thanks” politely after the greeting.
• Accademia della Crusca on the greeting salve. The institutional note on register and usage.