A guide to saying it like a local
How to Say "Great to see you" in Italian
Express genuine delight at encountering someone you know in Italy.
Che piacere vederti!
keh pleh-CHAIR-eh veh-DAIR-teecasual
Italian TTS · 0:01
Use this when you bump into a friend or acquaintance unexpectedly, or when someone arrives for a planned meeting. It conveys a warm, personal feeling of happiness to see them.
Alternatives
- Che bello vederti!Slightly more informal, emphasizing 'how nice'.
- Felice di vederti!A bit more direct, meaning 'happy to see you'.
Ways to get it wrong
Don't say 'Molto piacere!'
'Molto piacere!' means 'Nice to meet you' for the first time, not 'great to see you again'.
Watch the 'c' sound
The 'c' in 'piacere' is soft like 'ch' in 'cheese', not hard like 'k'.
A small cultural note
Italians are generally warm and expressive, so showing genuine pleasure at seeing someone is very common and appreciated.
When you'd actually say this
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Spotting a colleague at the market
You're squeezing tomatoes at the Saturday morning market in Bologna when you hear your name. You turn around and it's the colleague you worked with on a project last spring, someone you genuinely liked but haven't seen since. You both reach for a handshake at the same time and you say 'Che piacere vederti!' before either of you has a chance to feel awkward.
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Friend arrives after long absence
Your university friend has been living in Berlin for two years and is finally back in Milan for a wedding. You open the door of the apartment and she's standing there with her suitcase, looking tired from the train. The words come out before you even think about them: 'Che piacere vederti!' — and you mean every syllable.
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Recognizing your old dentist
You're waiting for a table at a trattoria in your old neighborhood when you spot the dentist who looked after your teeth for a decade before you moved away. He's with his wife and hasn't noticed you yet. You cross the room, he looks up, and you say 'Che piacere vederti!' — the warmth in your voice doing the work that small talk would otherwise have to do.
Related ways to say it in Italian
- Che piacere rivederti! — What a pleasure to see you again!
- The prefix 'ri-' makes the 'again' explicit — use this when you want to underscore that you're reuniting after a gap, rather than just expressing general warmth.
- Che piacere vederLa! — What a pleasure to see you! (formal)
- Swap 'ti' for 'La' when addressing someone you address with 'Lei' — a senior colleague, a client, or someone you've only met once before in a professional context.
- Finalmente! Che piacere vederti! — Finally! So good to see you!
- Adding 'Finalmente!' at the front signals that the wait has been long and the reunion is overdue — common when someone has been travelling or out of contact.
- Che piacere vedervi! — What a pleasure to see you all!
- Use 'vedervi' instead of 'vederti' when greeting a group of two or more people at once, for example when a couple or a group of friends arrives together.
Notes for English speakers
- English speakers often want to add 'tanto' (so much) to intensify the phrase, producing 'Che tanto piacere vederti!' — but this sounds unnatural; Italians intensify with 'davvero' ('Che piacere davvero vederti!') or simply rely on tone of voice.
- The word 'piacere' is a noun here meaning 'pleasure', not the verb 'to like', so the sentence structure is closer to 'What a pleasure to see you!' than to anything built around a verb — English speakers sometimes try to conjugate it as if it were a verb and get confused.
- In southern Italy and Sicily you may hear 'Che piacere vederti!' delivered with a double consonant emphasis on 'vederti' that sounds almost like 'veddarti' to untrained ears; this is a regional phonetic feature, not a separate word or a mistake.
The same phrase in other languages
Frequently asked
how to say great to see you to a stranger in italian
For a stranger, you'd use a more general greeting like 'Piacere di conoscerla' (formal) or 'Piacere di conoscerti' (informal) if you're being introduced.
Is 'Che piacere vederti' too informal for a boss?
Yes, this phrase uses 'vederti' which is the informal 'you'. For a boss or someone you use 'Lei' with, you'd say 'Che piacere vederLa!'.
What's the difference between 'vederti' and 'vederLa'?
'vederti' is used when speaking to someone you know well and address with 'tu'. 'vederLa' is the formal version, used when addressing someone with 'Lei'.
