Short version: say zdravo (ZDRAH-vo) to almost anyone, dobar dan (good day) to a stranger or someone older, and doviđenja to say goodbye politely. Those three carry you anywhere in Bosnia. The word that makes it sound Bosnian, though, is merhaba — and knowing when it, selam and zdravo each fit is the whole trick.
Published 7 September 2026
Most of a Bosnian greeting is shared with Serbian, Croatian and Montenegrin — learn zdravo and dobar dan once and they work across all four. What sets Bosnian apart is a small extra layer left behind by four centuries of Ottoman history: warm, Turkish-rooted greetings like merhaba and selam that you will hear in Sarajevo daily and almost nowhere else in standard Serbian. This guide covers the everyday set first, then that Bosnian layer, so you know not just the words but when each one lands right.
Zdravo is the everyday hello: neutral, friendly, correct any time of day and with almost anyone. It is used by all Bosnians regardless of background, so it is your safe default. Dobar dan ("good day") is the polite step up — reach for it with a stranger, someone clearly older, or in a shop, pharmacy or hotel. Doviđenja is the polite goodbye. Get those three right and you will never open or close a conversation wrongly, whatever else you say in between.
Bosnian is written as it sounds, so once you know a few letters you read every word correctly: č and ć are both roughly "ch" (č harder, ć softer), j is a "y" as in "yes", đ is a soft "j" like the start of "jam", and c is "ts" as in "cats".
| Bosnian | Say it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Zdravo | ZDRAH-vo | Casual hello, anytime, anyone |
| Merhaba | MER-ha-ba | Warm everyday hello, common in Bosnia |
| Dobar dan | DOH-bar dahn | Polite hello, midday to evening |
| Dobro jutro | DOH-bro YOO-tro | Good morning, until ~10am |
| Dobra večer | DOH-bra VEH-cher | Good evening |
| Laku noć | LAH-koo notch | Good night (parting for the night) |
| Doviđenja | do-vee-JEH-nya | Polite goodbye |
| Ćao | chow | Casual hi and bye, with friends |
| Vidimo se | VEE-dee-mo seh | See you (later) |
| Prijatno | pree-YAHT-no | "Enjoy" / have a nice time, leaving a café |
Note "good evening": Bosnian usually takes the form dobra večer (like Croatian), where Serbian leans dobro veče. Both are understood everywhere; dobra večer is the one to copy in Bosnia.
This is where Bosnian gets its own colour. Merhaba (MER-ha-ba) is a warm hello that arrived through Turkish (originally Arabic) and settled into everyday Bosnian speech. It is used widely across Bosnia and is especially common among Bosniaks. You do not need any special reply — merhaba back, or a simple zdravo, is completely fine. As a visitor, the safest move is to answer merhaba warmly rather than to decide who to open it with; when in doubt, lead with zdravo or dobar dan.
Selam (SEH-lam), or the fuller selam alejkum (SEH-lam a-LEY-kum, "peace be upon you"), is a religious Islamic greeting. Unlike merhaba, it does come with a reply: alejkumu selam, "and upon you peace". It is exchanged between Muslims, so as a learner you will mostly be on the receiving end — if someone offers you selam alejkum, the graceful answer is alejkumu selam.
One more worth knowing because you will hear it constantly: bujrum (BOOY-room). Borrowed from Turkish buyurun, it is the all-purpose "please, go ahead" — come in, sit down, help yourself, what can I get you. A shopkeeper waves you in with bujrum; a host points you to a seat with bujrum, izvol'te. You do not have to say it, but recognising it means you will know exactly what is being offered. Merhaba, selam and bujrum are all part of the wider family of Turkish-flavoured words in Bosnian.
Like the rest of the region, Bosnian splits "you" into a friendly and a polite form, and the greeting question follows it:
That si versus ste switch is the same politeness dial as French tu/vous or German du/Sie. With an older stranger, default to ste — being addressed politely never offends anyone. And note that kako si? is a real question, not the throwaway English "y'alright?" — expect an actual answer, and lob one back.
Rule of thumb: if you would shake their hand, say dobar dan. If you would nod, say zdravo — and answer merhaba with a smile whenever it comes your way.
You step into a corner shop or a ćevabdžinica. Here is the whole exchange, entrance to exit:
— Dobar dan. (You, walking in.)
— Merhaba, izvol'te? ("Hello, what would you like?")
— Jednu kafu, molim. ("One coffee, please.")
— … Hvala. Doviđenja! (You, on the way out.)
Four lines, and you have bookended the whole thing politely without a word of English. Nail the entrance and the exit and the middle looks after itself. (Coffee, by the way, is kafa in Bosnian — worth its own ritual, which the Bosnian coffee guide gets into.)
Cover the answers and pick the best greeting for each situation. Answers below.
Answers: 1 — Dobar dan (polite, for a stranger who's older). 2 — Zdravo or ćao (casual). 3 — Alejkumu selam (the set reply to selam alejkum). 4 — Doviđenja, or a warm prijatno / hvala, doviđenja.
How do you say hello in Bosnian? The all-purpose hello is zdravo (ZDRAH-vo), used by everyone at any time of day. For a polite daytime greeting say dobar dan (good day). You'll also hear merhaba (MER-ha-ba), a warm hello of Turkish and Arabic origin used widely in Bosnia, especially among Bosniaks.
What does merhaba mean in Bosnian, and should I use it? Merhaba means hello or welcome. It came into Bosnian from Turkish (ultimately Arabic) during the Ottoman period and carries a warm, friendly tone, and is especially common among Bosniaks. As a visitor you can greet everyone with zdravo or dobar dan and be perfectly correct; the value is in recognising merhaba so you can answer it naturally — with merhaba or zdravo back.
What is selam alejkum, and how do I reply? Selam, or the fuller selam alejkum ("peace be upon you"), is a religious Islamic greeting exchanged between Muslims. If someone offers it to you, the set reply is alejkumu selam ("and upon you peace"). When unsure which greeting to use, zdravo or dobar dan is always appropriate.
Is Bosnian really different from Serbian and Croatian here? The core greetings are shared, so zdravo, dobar dan and doviđenja travel across all four standards. What marks Bosnian out is the everyday warmth of merhaba and the Islamic selam, plus the dobra večer form for good evening. Bosnian is also written mainly in the Latin script, so you don't need Cyrillic for any of these — and if you're curious how far the languages actually diverge, is Bosnian a different language? unpacks it.
Greetings open the door; the next step is keeping it open once someone answers. If these were useful, the same core set is laid out for the neighbours in our Serbian greetings and Croatian greetings guides, and the beginner's roadmap to Bosnian shows the order to learn everything else in. That's the whole idea behind Gora: start saying real phrases out loud on day one, then let a patient AI fox help you turn kako si? into an actual conversation — Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin are all live today.