How to say hello in Kurdish: Kurmancî and Soranî greetings

Kurdish has two big written standards, Kurmancî (Northern Kurdish, usually written in Latin letters) and Soranî (Central Kurdish, written in an Arabic-based script). The greetings are close cousins, so once you know one set, the other feels familiar. Every phrase below comes straight from the ZimanGo lessons.

The everyday hello

The word you will hear most is the same in both dialects:

Silav! /siˈlav/ سڵاو! silaw Hello!

Silav works with friends, family and strangers, at any time of day. You can add a question straight away: Silav, tu çawa yî? in Kurmancî or سڵاو، چۆنی؟ in Soranî, both meaning “Hello, how are you?”.

Good morning, good evening, good night

Kurdish greetings by time of day are built the same way: a time word plus baş (good). Kurmancî sometimes joins the two into one word, as in Rojbaş.

To wish someone sweet dreams, Kurmancî adds xew baş: Şev baş, xew baş. The Soranî version is شەو باش، خەوێکی خۆش.

“How are you?” and what to answer

Notice how Soranî often packs the person into the end of the word: باشم başim is “I am fine” in a single word, while Kurmancî says it with three: Ez baş im. Read more in Kurmancî vs Soranî.

Your first short conversation

Put the pieces together and you can already hold a polite first exchange:

Saying goodbye

Bi xatirê te is the standard Kurmancî goodbye, and Xatirê te is the shorter, more casual form. In Soranî, ماڵئاوا malawa is a common goodbye. The lessons also teach the word-for-word match بە خاتری تۆ.

Which greeting should I use?

Use the dialect of the people you will talk to. If your family is from the Kurdish regions of Turkey or Syria, or from Duhok in Iraq, start with Kurmancî. If they come from Erbil or Sulaymaniyah in Iraq, or from Mahabad or Sanandaj in Iran, start with Soranî. Not sure? Our guide to Kurdish dialects helps you choose, and ZimanGo teaches both.