Yoruba Greetings: How To Say Hello in Yoruba
In this article, you will learn about Yoruba greetings including how to say hello in Yoruba, their postures of greetings and so many other things. With this guide even if you are a non-speaker of the language, you will be able to greet well using the language.
Yoruba which is one of the main ethnic groups in Nigeria speaks the Yoruba language. Most people who speak this language live majorly in Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, and so on. Even though other minorities speak the language in Abuja, Ilorin, and other places.
Greeting in Yoruba is more than welcoming others but also a means of showing respect and regard to others. The Yoruba greeting posture for a male is to prostrate when he sees an elderly while the female kneels to greet him.
Yoruba greetings generally make use of “E” to greet the elderly and use it in all speeches to show respect to the elderly. For instance, “Kaaro o” means Good morning but you can only use it for your agemates. If you want to use it for the elderly, you need to add “E” as a prefix to make it “E Kaaro o”.
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How To Say Hello in Yoruba
In the Yoruba language, it’s difficult to translate “Hello“. As ” Hello” itself can be used to greet people at any day anytime irrespective of what you are doing. But we will try to translate and illustrates different ways to say hello in Yoruba depending on what the person is doing.
Below are some ways to say hello in Yoruba.
- “E nle o” – it’s used to greet people, especially the elderly. Remember the “E” has been added to the front. You can say “Nle o” for your age mates(i.e without the “E”).
- “E Pele o” – This translates to “Sorry”. But it’s not used only to pacify someone but also means hello. It can be used to greet the elderly. Some even add “ma” or “sir” at the end to differentiate the gender. For instance,”E Pele ma” or “E Pele sir”.
- “E rora o” – This is another way to say hello in Yoruba even though it simply means “take it easy”. It can be used as a form of greetings in Yoruba and it is for the elderly because of the “E”.
- “E ku ishe o” – literally translates to well done but can also be used to say hello in Yoruba to an elderly who is busy working on something.
- “E ku ikale o” – This is used to greet the elderly and to say hello in Yoruba to someone who is sitting or in a relaxing position.
Having learn how to say hello in Yoruba, let’s move to other parts of Yoruba greetings including how to say good morning in Yoruba and so on.
How To Say Good Morning in Yoruba
Yoruba people normally greet others “Kaaro o” in the morning especially when you are greeting age mates But for the elderly, to say good morning in Yoruba, you need to add “E” to the front to make it “E Kaaro o“
How To Say Good Afternoon in Yoruba
Yoruba people normally greet others “Kaasan o” in the afternoon especially when you are greeting an age mate. But for the elderly, to say good morning in Yoruba, you need to add “E” to the front to make it “E kaasan o”
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How To Say Good Evening in Yoruba
Saying Good evening in Yoruba is similar to other greetings in terms of adding “E” for the elderly. So to say Good evening in Yoruba, you say “E ku role”. And it’s used to greet the elderly between 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. And to greet people after 7 p.m when the sky is already dark, you say “E kaale o”
We hope you find our guide on Yoruba greetings helpful.
