Wondering how to say hello in Ojibwe (also spelt Ojibway)?
This post covers how to greet people in Ojibwe and teaches you some essential phrases including ‘hello’, ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’.
Hopefully you’ll leave this page knowing some essential Ojibwe greetings.
Table of Contents
How To Say Hello In Ojibwe
If you want to say hello in Ojibwe then you can do so with the following phrases.
Click on the Ojibwe word to hear the pronunciation. I’ve included these links where possible.
- Hello – Aanii
The word aanii is used to say hello but the literal meaning is ‘I see your light’. This is the most common way to say hello in Ojibwe.
A slight variation of this word is aaniin which means the same thing but is more common in the west.
You can use aanii in any situation.
A more traditional way to say hello in Ojibwe is:
- Hello – Boozhoo
You’ll hear this greeting more amongst elders; however it is still commonly used by many people in day-to-day conversation.
Boozhoo is a shortened version of the longer greeting nanaboozhoo which is less common.
Continue your conversation by learning how to say ‘how are you?’ in Ojibwe.
Check out the video below to hear the pronunciation of these phrases in Ojibwe by a native speaker:
How To Say Other Greetings In Ojibwe e.g. ‘Good Morning’
You may want to use some other greetings in Ojibwe such as ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’.
Check out these other Ojibwe greetings below:
How To Say Good Morning In Ojibwe
To say good morning in Ojibwe, you can say:
- Good morning – Mino gigizheb
This phrase literally means ‘it is a good morning’ but it can be used as a greeting in the morning.
How To Say Good Afternoon In Ojibwe
To say good afternoon in Ojibwe, you can say:
- Good afternoon – Mino ishkwaa-naawakwe
This phrase can be used to say good afternoon in Ojibwe.
Another version is:
- Good afternoon/good day – Mino giizhigad
This phrase literally means ‘it is a good day’ and can be used as a greeting during the day.
How To Say Good Evening & Good Night In Ojibwe
To say good evening in Ojibwe, you can say:
- Good evening/night – Mino dibikad
This phrase literally means ‘it is a good night’ but it can be used as an evening greeting.
Ojibwe Ceremonial Greetings
You may also use a ceremonial greeting if you are offering prayers or attending any traditional ceremonies.
This consists of you stating your name, clan and community.
When stating your name, follow it with n’dizhnikaas which means ‘I am called’.
When stating your clan, follow it with dodem niin da’aw which means ‘clan I belong to’.
When stating your community, follow it with n’doonjibaa which means ‘community I am from’.
Putting this together you would say:
- (your name) n’dizhnikaas, (your clan) dodem niin da’aw, (your community) n’doonjibaa
Thanks for reading this post on how to greet someone in Ojibwe. Continue your conversation by learning how to say ‘how are you?’ in Ojibwe.
Hopefully you now know how to say ‘hello’ in Ojibwe and also how to say ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’ in Ojibwe.
You can find out more about the Ojibwe language here.
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