hola
“hola” — hello in Catalan. Interjection, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. the h is silent: OH-luh. In a live sentence: “Hola! Què tal el cap de setmana?” — Hi! How was your weekend? One of 8 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Catalan course.
In short
| Written in Catalan | hola |
| Translation | hello |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
How to pronounce it
the h is silent: OH-luh
Why it looks that way
One word for every occasion, as in Spanish. The h never sounds
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Hola! Què tal el cap de setmana?Hi! How was your weekend?
Nearby words: greetings and goodbyes
Every conversation starts here, and so does every first impression: say hello in the local language and you stop being a stranger in about a second.
- bon diagood morningLiterally 'good day'. Before a masculine noun bo shrinks to bon: bon dia, bon cafè
- bona tardagood afternoonFor after lunch. Tarda is feminine, hence bona, not bon
- bona nitgood nightBoth a greeting late in the evening and a wish before sleep — like the Spanish buenas noches
- adéugoodbyeFrom a Déu — 'to God': the same road Spanish adiós took. The everyday parting word
- fins arasee you soonLiterally 'until now' — a goodbye for someone you will see again today. In Catalonia it outdoes adéu as the everyday farewell
- com estàs?how are you?Built on estar — it asks about your state right now, not about life in general
- què tal?how's it going?Literally 'what such'. Lighter and shorter than com estàs? — it fits anyone
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “greetings and goodbyes”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “hello” in Catalan?
One word for every occasion, as in Spanish. The h never sounds
- How do you say “how's it going?” in Catalan?
Literally 'what such'. Lighter and shorter than com estàs? — it fits anyone
- How do you say “how are you?” in Catalan?
Built on estar — it asks about your state right now, not about life in general
- How do you say “see you soon” in Catalan?
Literally 'until now' — a goodbye for someone you will see again today. In Catalonia it outdoes adéu as the everyday farewell
- How do you say “goodbye” in Catalan?
From a Déu — 'to God': the same road Spanish adiós took. The everyday parting word
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “hello” in Catalan?
«hola». the h is silent: OH-luh. In a live sentence: “Hola! Què tal el cap de setmana?” — Hi! How was your weekend? Interjection, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
One word for every occasion, as in Spanish. The h never sounds. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.