Namaste, said with the palms together at chest height, works everywhere in Nepal and cannot be got wrong. What follows it is where the actual social information sits: whether you address someone as dai or didi, whether you use the respectful form of the verb or the familiar one, and whether you use a name at all. A greeting in Nepali is placing two people in relation to each other, and it happens in the first few seconds.
Namaste and namaskar
The gesture is palms together, fingers up, at roughly the level of the chest, with a slight bow of the head. The word comes from Sanskrit and carries the sense of bowing to you. It serves as hello, as goodbye, and as an acknowledgement of someone across a room where speaking would be intrusive.
Namaskar is the more formal version. Use it for someone considerably older, for someone in office, or when you want to be clearly respectful, and it will never look wrong. For a shopkeeper you see daily, plain namaste is right, and for a friend on a trail a nod may be all that happens.
Raising the joined hands higher, towards the forehead, increases the deference. You will see this directed at elderly people, at priests and in temples. Copying it in the right context is fine and nobody will find it presumptuous.
The kinship terms, and why they matter more than names
Nepali does something English does not: it uses family words for people who are not family, constantly, as the ordinary way of addressing a stranger. You will be doing this within a day of arriving and it is the single fastest way to sound less foreign.
| Term | Literally | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Dai | Elder brother | Any man around your age or a bit older |
| Didi | Elder sister | Any woman around your age or a bit older |
| Bhai | Younger brother | A younger man, a boy |
| Bahini | Younger sister | A younger woman, a girl |
| Buwa and aama | Father and mother | Older adults, respectfully |
| Hajurbuwa and hajurama | Grandfather and grandmother | The elderly |
The choice is made on apparent age relative to yours, and getting it slightly wrong is not a problem. Calling a woman didi who turns out to be younger than you is a compliment more often than a mistake. The suffix ji is a separate device, attached to a name for respect, and it is common in more formal or urban settings.
What you do not do is walk up and use a first name on its own, unless you know them well. It reads as blunt rather than friendly.
Three levels of you
Nepali has three second-person pronouns and they carry real weight. तपाईं, tapain, is the respectful form, and it is the one a visitor should use for everybody, always. तिमी, timi, is familiar, used between friends and by an older person to a younger one. तँ, ta, is intimate or condescending depending entirely on the relationship, and a foreigner has no business using it.
The verb changes with the pronoun, which is where the honorific endings come from. This is also why Nepali does not need a word for please: the polite request is polite because of how the verb ends. Nobody expects a visitor to get the grammar right, and using tapain with a wrong ending is entirely fine.
What the greeting is actually doing
The follow-up question is usually not are you well but where are you going, khaana khaanu bhayo, have you eaten, or some variation on both. None of these is an interrogation. Have you eaten is a courtesy roughly equivalent to asking after their health, and the answer is yes even if it is not strictly true. Where are you going is small talk, not a request for an itinerary, and any vague answer will do.
Touching the feet of an elder, dhog, is a real and living gesture, most visibly at Dashain when younger family members receive tika and blessing from their elders. It is covered in our Dashain guide. A visitor is not expected to do it, and should not initiate it.
Practical points that save awkwardness
Do not offer to shake hands with a woman in a rural setting unless she offers first. Namaste covers it and is never wrong. Handshakes are ordinary in urban and professional contexts between men, and increasingly common everywhere, but namaste is the safe default.
Public affection between couples is unusual outside Kathmandu and best avoided. Physical contact between friends of the same sex, including hand-holding, is completely ordinary and means nothing more than friendship.
Not everyone says namaste
Nepal has more than a hundred languages, and greetings vary with them. Newar speakers in the Kathmandu valley greet with jwajalapa. In the Tibetan-influenced northern valleys the greeting is tashi delek. Nepali and namaste will be understood everywhere; using the local form where you know it is welcomed rather than expected.
In the far west the distinctiveness of the local culture is most obvious in performance rather than in speech, above all in the circle dance described in our deuda guide. In the Tarai, Tharu communities have their own language and forms, set out in the Tharu culture guide. The Nepali language itself came out of the Karnali, from the Khas speech of the medieval kingdom at Sinja, which is traced in the Sinja valley and the origins of Nepali, and the evenings where it was spoken and sung are described in the rodhighar tradition.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does namaste actually mean?
It comes from Sanskrit and carries the sense of bowing to you. In practice it functions as hello, goodbye and a respectful acknowledgement, and it is used at any hour and in any setting.
What is the difference between namaste and namaskar?
Namaskar is the more formal and more respectful of the two. Use it for elders, officials and first meetings that matter. Namaste is the everyday form and is never impolite.
Should I call people dai and didi?
Yes. Dai for a man around your age or older, didi for a woman. It is the ordinary way to address a stranger in Nepal, it sounds warm rather than presumptuous, and getting the age judgement slightly wrong causes no offence.
Do Nepali people shake hands?
In urban and professional settings, often, between men. In villages, and with women generally, namaste is the expected greeting. Let the other person offer a hand first and use namaste otherwise.
Why do people ask if I have eaten?
Khaana khaanu bhayo, have you eaten, is a standard greeting rather than an actual enquiry, in the same slot English puts how are you. Yes is the expected answer and no invitation is implied.