Everyday Greetings to Start a Conversation

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.


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:
"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.


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.


Let's see these greetings in a conversation sample to see how these are used.
This standard greeting is easy to learn and can help open your world to conversation in the Filipino language.