سلام
“سلام” (salâm) — hi in Persian. Interjection, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. The final long a reads "o": salaam, never "sa-lyam". In a live sentence: “سلام، دوست من!” — Hi, my friend! Written with the characters س, ل, ا, م. One of 8 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Persian course.
In short
| Written in Persian | سلام |
| Read in Latin letters | salâm |
| Translation | hi |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
How to pronounce it
the final long a reads "o": salaam, never "sa-lyam"
Why it looks that way
The all-purpose hello, morning or night, to friends and strangers alike. Kin of the greeting that means "peace" across the whole region
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.
- سلام، دوست من!salâm, duste man!Hi, my friend!
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.
- صبح بخیرsâbh bekheyrgood morningLiterally "morning [be] without grief". Wishes are built as time word + bekheyr, and the answer comes back in the same shape
- خداحافظkhâdâhâfezgoodbyeLiterally "God [be your] keeper" — khoda is God, hafez protects. In speech it wears down to khodafez
- حالت چطوره؟hâlet châtâre؟how are you?Literally "your state, how is it?" The -et on the end is "your"; to someone respected it becomes haale shoma, your state
- خوبمkhubamI am wellLiterally "well-I": the link verb -am glues straight onto the word, no separate "am" needed. The full answer runs khubam, mamnun
- میبینمتmi-binemetsee youLiterally "I see you" — subject, verb and object in one word. A warm sign-off between friends, lighter than khodahafez
- عصر بخیرasr bekheyrgood eveningThe evening slot of the bekheyr family. Asr stretches through the late afternoon, so it opens the post-work hour too
- شب بخیرshab bekheyrgood nightSaid when parting for the night, not when meeting at ten. Shab is night; the same word runs through shab-e mahtab, a moonlit night
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 “hi” in Persian?
The all-purpose hello, morning or night, to friends and strangers alike. Kin of the greeting that means "peace" across the whole region
- How do you say “good night” in Persian?
Said when parting for the night, not when meeting at ten. Shab is night; the same word runs through shab-e mahtab, a moonlit night
- How do you say “good evening” in Persian?
The evening slot of the bekheyr family. Asr stretches through the late afternoon, so it opens the post-work hour too
- How do you say “see you” in Persian?
Literally "I see you" — subject, verb and object in one word. A warm sign-off between friends, lighter than khodahafez
- How do you say “I am well” in Persian?
Literally "well-I": the link verb -am glues straight onto the word, no separate "am" needed. The full answer runs khubam, mamnun
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 “hi” in Persian?
«سلام», read “salâm”. The final long a reads "o": salaam, never "sa-lyam". In a live sentence: “سلام، دوست من!” — Hi, my friend! Interjection, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”; written with the characters س, ل, ا, م.
How is “سلام” written in Latin letters?
salâm. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The all-purpose hello, morning or night, to friends and strangers alike. Kin of the greeting that means "peace" across the whole region. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.