Kilo Lingo

/alo/

Line drawing of allô
Coloured illustration of allô
#780 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

hello (on the phone)

Word origin

A telephone greeting borrowed in the late nineteenth century from English 'hello' (or its variant 'hallo'), which itself developed from earlier 'hollo', a shout to attract attention.

Origin
English
Root
hello
English cognates
hello

Examples

? ' ? connexion .

Hello? Can you hear me? The connection is really bad.

, , appelle Durand.

Hello, good day, I am calling on behalf of Durand company.

? ' ? ' .

Hello? Is anyone there? We have not been able to hear you for five minutes.

, c' , ' .

Hello, it's me, I've just arrived at the station.

, rappelle , ' ?

Hello mum, I'll call you back in five minutes, all right?

Allo est une interjection utilisee exclusivement quand on repond au telephone ou pour verifier que la communication fonctionne. C'est l'equivalent francais de hello en anglais dans ce contexte specifique. L'accent circonflexe de allo est souvent omis a l'ecrit informel.

Allo ? repete traduit l'impatience ou l'incomprehension. Allo docteur ! est le titre d'une emission de radio medicale celebre en France. Ne pas utiliser allo pour saluer quelqu'un en personne ; bonjour ou salut sont les formes appropriees en face-a-face.

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This word is part of lesson 16.