Hei!

It is usually pronounced close to English hey.

A simple approximation for English speakers is:

• Hei → hay

The vowel sound is like the vowel in English day, but without overthinking it, hey is a very good starting point.

Hei is generally neutral and very common in everyday Norwegian. It works well in many situations, including:

• talking to friends
• speaking to coworkers
• greeting shop staff
• starting casual emails or messages

It is not overly formal, but it is also not rude or slangy. In modern Norwegian, it is one of the most natural greetings you can use.

Yes. Hei is often used even with strangers in Norway, especially in everyday situations.

For example, it can be natural when:

• entering a small shop
• greeting a neighbor
• starting a conversation with someone politely
• answering the phone in some casual contexts

If you want to sound a bit more formal, you might also hear Hallo or other greetings depending on the situation, but Hei is extremely common and safe.

Both are common greetings, but they can feel slightly different.

• Hei is often the most everyday, friendly greeting.
• Hallo can also mean hello, and it is common too, especially when answering the phone or getting someone’s attention.

In many situations, they overlap. For a learner, Hei is a great basic greeting to know and use.

Sometimes, yes.

In Norwegian, hei can be used both when meeting and when leaving, depending on tone and context. However, as a beginner, it is easiest to learn it first as a greeting.

For goodbye, learners often also meet forms like:

• Ha det
• Hei hei

So if you hear hei at the end of an interaction, that is not necessarily strange.

It is capitalized because it stands alone as a complete greeting, just like English Hi! or Hello!

In Norwegian, the first word of a sentence is capitalized, so Hei! follows normal spelling rules.

The exclamation mark shows a lively or friendly greeting. In real life, you may see both:

• Hei!
• Hei.

But Hei! is very common because greetings are often written with a warm, upbeat tone.

It does not necessarily mean the speaker is shouting. It usually just makes the greeting feel more friendly or energetic.

Yes. Hei is used in both Bokmål and Nynorsk.

This is useful for learners because it means you can recognize and use it regardless of which written standard you are studying. It is a very stable, everyday greeting across Norwegian.