Greetings

I. GREETINGS AND COMMON EXPRESSIONS

We use the following expressions to greet in Bisaya.

Maayong buntag.	Good morning.
Maayong adlaw.	Good day.
Maayong udto.	Good afternoon. (noon or midday)
Maayong hapon.	Good afternoon.
Maayong gabii.	Good evening.

‘Maayong’ is the contraction of ‘Maayo nga’ which means ‘a good’.

‘Maayong adlaw.’ & ‘Maayo nga adlaw.’  both mean ‘Good morning’.

We add ‘nimo’ or ‘ninyo’  and ‘diha’ to sound polite. ‘Nimo’ means ‘you’ (singular) and ‘Ninyo’ means ‘you’ (plural). ‘Diha’ means there.

Maayong buntag nimo diha.

Good morning to you there.

To answer these expressions, we add the word ‘pud’ or 'sab' or  'sad' which means ‘too’.

A: Maayong buntag nimo diha.	Good morning to you there.
B: Maayong buntag pud.	Good morning, too.

Note: Bisaya doesn’t have a polite word form. We only address the person we are talking to to be polite.

II. GREETINGS – HOW ARE YOU?

Just like Tagalog, Bisaya uses the expression derived from the Spanish, ‘como esta’. ‘Kumusta’.

Kumusta?

How are you?

'Kumusta’ is used in different ways depending on the situation. It is also used to anybody, any age, any gender, relative or friend, etc.

Kumusta?	(used when meeting a relative, friend, acquaintance, etc.)
Kumusta na man ka?	(used especially when you haven’t seen the person you are talking to for a long time)
Kumusta na?	(used in general; the person you are talking to had been sick, had a bad experience,

To answer, we say ‘Maayo man’, or ‘Ok lang’ which means ‘I’m ok’ or 'I'm fine'. We also add the word 'Salamat' at the end of the sentence. But this is optional.

A: Kumusta na?	How are you?
B: Maayo man. Salamat	I'm fine. Thanks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• (ref. Aspillera, Paraluman E. Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs. HK: Tuttle Publishing, 2007.)