xin chào

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [s̪in˧˧ ṯɕaːw˨˩]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [s̪in˧˧ ṯɕaːw˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [s̪ɨ̞̠n˧˥ c̻aːw˨˩]

Interjection

xin chào

1. (formal) hello
2. (formal) greetings

Usage notes

• There are many other greetings in Vietnamese which depend on the relationship or social standing between the speaker and the person addressed. This greeting can, however, be used between any people, theoretically at least. In reality, it is almost never used in conversations; the only situation where it can be heard is perhaps in generic advertisements aimed at foreign tourists; on TV, kính chào is used more frequent. It is still more natural to use chào + [proper kinship "pronoun"] to greet someone.

Synonyms

• chào (informal)