שלום
“שלום” (шалом) — hi in Hebrew. Interjection, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. The most famous Hebrew word: hello, goodbye and peace in one. It greets at any hour of the day. In a live sentence: “שלום, דנה!” — Hi, Dana! Written with the characters ש, ל, ו. One of 9 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Hebrew course.
In short
| Written in Hebrew | שלום |
| Read in Latin letters | шалом |
| Translation | hi |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
The most famous Hebrew word: hello, goodbye and peace in one. It greets at any hour of the day
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.
- שלום, דנה!шалом, Дана!Hi, Dana!
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.
- יום טובйом товgood afternoonLiterally "good day": said as a daytime greeting and wished to someone when parting
- בוקר טובбокер товgood morningLiterally "good morning". The boundary is the same as in English: after eleven it is already yom tov
- ערב טובэрев товgood eveningLiterally "good evening". The first letter ע is not read — erev, not aerev
- להתראותлеитраотgoodbyeLiterally "until we see each other" — from the root r-a-h, to see. The all-purpose farewell
- בייбайbyeFrom the English bye, but long since its own: friends part with it more often than with lehitraot
- מה שלומך?ма шломха?how are you?Literally "how is your peace?". To a woman the question is shlomekh — the final ך reads kh
- מה שלומכם?ма шломхем?how are you all?Said to a group: shlomkhem. The polite you in Hebrew is simply the plural
- לילה טובлайла товgood nightLiterally "good night" — built on the same pattern as yom tov and boker tov
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 Hebrew?
The most famous Hebrew word: hello, goodbye and peace in one. It greets at any hour of the day
- How do you say “how are you all?” in Hebrew?
Said to a group: shlomkhem. The polite you in Hebrew is simply the plural
- How do you say “bye” in Hebrew?
From the English bye, but long since its own: friends part with it more often than with lehitraot
- How do you say “good evening” in Hebrew?
Literally "good evening". The first letter ע is not read — erev, not aerev
- How do you say “good afternoon” in Hebrew?
Literally "good day": said as a daytime greeting and wished to someone when parting
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 Hebrew?
«שלום», read “шалом”. In a live sentence: “שלום, דנה!” — Hi, Dana! Interjection, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”; written with the characters ש, ל, ו.
How is “שלום” written in Latin letters?
шалом. 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 most famous Hebrew word: hello, goodbye and peace in one. It greets at any hour of the day. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.