Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa Greetings to Teach Your Child This Week

In many West African cultures, greetings are much more than "hi". Greeting someone properly, especially an elder, shows respect, warmth and good upbringing. That makes greetings the perfect first words for children learning a heritage language: they're short, they're used every day, and they make grandparents beam.

Here are simple greetings to start with in each of our live languages, plus a few games to make them stick.

Igbo greetings

Igbo is a tonal language, so the same letters can mean different things depending on pitch. That's why hearing a native speaker matters so much.

• Nnọọ: Welcome
• Kedụ?: How are you?
• Ụtụtụ ọma: Good morning
• Daalụ: Thank you
• Ka ọ dị: Goodbye (until later)

Try this: every morning this week, greet your child with Ụtụtụ ọma and wait for them to say it back before breakfast is served.

Learn more about Igbo for kids →

Yoruba greetings

Yoruba greetings change with the time of day and are often adjusted to show respect to elders. Kids love discovering that there's a special greeting for almost everything.

• Ẹ káàbọ̀: Welcome
• Báwo ni?: How are you?
• Ẹ káàárọ̀: Good morning (respectful)
• Ẹ ṣé: Thank you (respectful)
• Ó dàbọ̀: Goodbye

Try this: play "time-of-day detective". Call out a time ("7 o'clock in the morning!") and see who can shout the right greeting first.

Learn more about Yoruba for kids →

Hausa greetings

Hausa greetings are famously warm and can go back and forth for a while as people ask after each other's family, health and work.

• Sannu: Hello
• Ina kwana?: Good morning (literally "How did you sleep?")
• Yaya dai?: How are you?
• Na gode: Thank you
• Sai an jima: See you later

Try this: practise a "greeting chain" at dinner. One person starts with Sannu, the next replies and asks Yaya dai?, and so on around the table.

Learn more about Hausa for kids →

Looking for a specific phrase? See good morning, afternoon and night and thank you and welcome in all three languages.

Five games to make greetings stick

1. Greeting at the door. Nobody comes into the house without a greeting in the family language, including parents!
2. Puppet show. Use soft toys or socks to act out an elder meeting a child. Kids get to practise the respectful forms in a silly, low-pressure way.
3. Phone a grandparent. A one-minute video call where your child only uses greetings is a huge confidence boost, and a lovely moment for Grandma.
4. Greeting bingo. Make a bingo card with greetings, then tick them off as you hear them during the week.
5. Record and replay. Record your child saying their greetings, then listen together a week later. They'll be amazed at their own progress.

Why tones and pronunciation matter

Igbo and Yoruba are tonal languages, and Hausa uses tone too, so a word said with the wrong pitch can sound odd, or mean something else entirely. Reading words on a page isn't enough. Children need to hear them.

That's why every word in the KidsLingua app is voiced by a native speaker, and why many families add a live lesson once their child has the basics: a teacher can gently correct tones in real time.

Start small, start today

You don't need to teach all of these at once. Pick one greeting per day this week, use it constantly, and celebrate every attempt. By next week, your child will have their first handful of words, and the best possible reason to keep going.