Greetings in Malayalam

This page collects the most useful Malayalam greetings, from saying hello and asking how someone is doing to welcoming a guest and saying goodbye. Malayalam does not use separate formal and informal greeting words the way some languages do; instead, politeness comes from the pronoun you choose, so use "ningal" or "thaankal" for "you" when speaking to elders or strangers. Note that time-of-day greetings like "good morning" are mostly used in writing and formal speech - in everyday conversation people simply say "namaskaaram" or ask "sukhamaano?".