How to say hello in Tagalog
One word covers it, and the only decision you have to make is how polite to be.
Kumusta. That is the answer, and it is the same word whether you mean hello, hi, or how are you. Press play.
| Rank | Tagalog | What it does | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Kumusta?Play | How are you? / heyFrom the Spanish 'como esta'. Works as a greeting on its own, the way 'how's it going' does. | neutral |
The respectful version
To anybody older than you, anybody serving you, or anybody you have not met, add po. It has no English translation. It marks the sentence as respectful, and leaving it out where it belongs is the single most common way a foreigner sounds rude by accident.
| Rank | Tagalog | What it does | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Kumusta po kayo?Play | How are you? (respectful)kayo is the plural 'you' used as a singular respectful one, exactly like French vous. | polite |
| 11 | Mabuti namanPlay | I'm fine | neutral |
Saying it right
Stress falls on the second syllable: ku-MUS-ta. The vowels are pure, closer to Spanish than to English, so the u is oo as in boot and the final a is ah, never the flat English uh.
Tagalog stress is not decoration. It is the difference between two words often enough that putting it in the wrong place makes you hard to follow. There is more about that on the pronunciation page.
What about hi and hello
Filipinos use both, in English, all the time. Conversational Tagalog is thoroughly mixed with English, and nobody will find it strange. Kumusta is what you use when you want to be speaking Tagalog.
Other greetings by time of day
| Rank | Tagalog | What it does | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Magandang umaga poPlay | Good morning | polite |
| 26 | Magandang hapon poPlay | Good afternoon | polite |
| 27 | Magandang gabi poPlay | Good evening | polite |
The frequency ordering on this site is an informed estimate, not a corpus count. There is no published frequency count for conversational Tagalog, so it prints a rank and never a percentage. When a real count exists, the order changes and this line changes with it.
It teaches Tagalog as spoken around Manila, which is not the same thing as Filipino and is not the whole country. Cebuano and Ilocano are different languages, not accents.
Nothing is drilled until a native speaker has checked it. What has been checked, by whom, and what is still owed is written down on the sources page.
- Phrase lookupSearch a word, see what lives next to it.
- Why Duolingo has no TagalogThe real reason, and what to do instead.
- Basic Tagalog phrasesThe ones you will actually hear, in frequency order, with audio.
- All the phrasesThe whole list this app drills, on one page.
- ang, ng, saNine cells that decide the shape of every Tagalog sentence.
- The pronoun gridTwenty-one cells, three cases, and the two words for we.
- Pronunciation and stressWhy buhay and buhay are different words, and how to hear it.
- Where this comes fromEvery source, every licence, and who checked the Tagalog.
- Tagalog vs FilipinoDifferent names, mostly the same language. What actually differs.
- Is Tagalog hard?Honest answer: the grammar is strange, the spelling is free.
- Tagalog greetingsHello, good morning, and what you say back.
- Thank you in TagalogSalamat, salamat po, and the reply.
- Po and opoThe respect particle, and the mistake foreigners make with it.
- Mahal kitaI love you, and the word that also means expensive.
- Tagalog and SpanishThousands of shared words, and not one shared grammar rule.
- Is Tagalog tonal?No. But stress changes meaning, which trips people the same way.
- Tagalog for travelThe jeepney word, the haggling word, and where the bathroom is.
- Learn Tagalog freeWhat is actually free, what is a trial, and where to start.
- Tagalog numbersTwo whole systems, and when each one is used.