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How To Say ‘Hello’ In Farsi + Other Useful Farsi Greetings

Wondering how to say ‘hello’ in Farsi? 

This post covers how to greet people in Farsi and teaches you some essential phrases including ‘hello’, ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’. 

It also covers some other greeting etiquette such as handshakes.

Hopefully you’ll leave this page knowing some essential Farsi greetings.

Note: you can click on any of the Farsi words in this post to hear the pronunciation by a native speaker.

How Do You Say ‘Hello’ In Farsi?

If you want to say ‘hello’ to someone in Farsi then you can do so with the following phrase:

EnglishFarsiPronunciation
HelloسلامSalam

This is one of the best greetings to learn in Farsi because it is suitable for most settings, situations and people. This is actually an Arabic word but is the most common way to say hello in Iran. 

Other ways to say hello in Farsi are:

EnglishFarsiPronunciation
HelloدرودDorood
Good dayروز به خیرRooz bekheir

‘Dorood’ is less common than ‘salam’ however it is gaining more popularity. This is a Farsi word unlike ‘salam’ which has Arabic roots. Many people have started opting to use this word instead of ‘salam’ as they prefer using an authentic Farsi word. 

The phrase ‘rooz bekheir’ means ‘good day’ and can be used at any time of day. The word ‘rooz’ means ‘day’ and ‘bekheir’ means ‘to be good’.

How Do You Greet Someone in Iran?

After saying ‘hello’ in Iran, people will almost always then ask ‘how are you?’ in Farsi so make sure you learn this phrase as well.

Formal Situations

  • In Iran, people will commonly greet each other by shaking hands in formal situations.
  • Only people of the same gender will do this so if you are a man and you are greeting a woman, do not offer to shake her hand as this could be seen as rude.

Informal Situations

  • In Iran, if you’re meeting a friend or someone you’re close with, you will greet them with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks.
  • Again, you should only do this with someone of the same gender.
  • You shouldn’t hug/kiss anyone of the opposite gender in this way when greeting as it could be considered rude or inappropriate.

How To Say Other Greetings In Farsi e.g. ‘Good Morning’

You may want to use some other greetings in Farsi such as ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’.

Check out these other Farsi greetings below:

How To Say ‘Good Morning’ In Farsi

To say ‘good morning’ in Farsi, you can say:

EnglishFarsiPronunciation
Good morningصبح بخیرSobh bekheir

This phrase is used only in the morning so it can be used anywhere between 5:30AM and 12:00PM. After this time you can use one of the other greetings in this post.

You would usually say ‘salam’ before this greeting e.g. ‘Salam, sobh bekheir’. 

The word ‘sobh’ means ‘morning’ and ‘bekheir’ means ‘to be good’. These words then form the phrase ‘good morning’.

How To Say ‘Good Afternoon’ In Farsi

To say ‘good afternoon’ in Farsi, you can say:

EnglishFarsiPronunciation
Good afternoonظهر بخیرZohr bekheir

This phrase can be used in the afternoon.

The word ‘zohr’ means ‘afternoon’ and ‘bekheir’ means ‘to be good’. These words then form the phrase ‘good afternoon’.

How To Say ‘Good Evening’ In Farsi

To say ‘good evening’ in Farsi, you can say:

EnglishFarsiPronunciation
Good eveningعصر بخیرAsr bekheir

This phrase can be used in the evening.

The word ‘asr’ means ‘evening’ and ‘bekheir’ means ‘to be good’. These words then form the phrase ‘good evening’.

How To Say ‘Good Night’ In Farsi

To say ‘good night’ in Farsi, you can say:

EnglishFarsiPronunciation
Good nightشب بخیرShab bekheir

This phrase is useful to know but it cannot be used as a greeting. You should only use this phrase when leaving. 

The word ‘shab’ means ‘night’ and ‘bekheir’ means ‘to be good’. These words then form the phrase ‘good night’.

Learn Farsi Fast

Want to kickstart your Farsi language learning journey? Here’s how…


Thanks for reading this post on how to greet someone in Farsi. Hopefully you now know how to say ‘hello’ in Farsi and also how to say ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’ in Farsi.

Expand your vocabulary by learning how to say these phrases in Farsi:

You can find out more about the Farsi language here.

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