Bavarian Words for Visitors: Servus, Griaß Di, Prost and Twenty More

Bavarian is not an accent on German, and the first sentence someone says to you in a beer tent will make that obvious. It has its own words, its own grammar in places, and its own sense of when a single syllable will do. You do not need to learn any of it to enjoy Munich, but knowing a dozen words changes a transaction into a conversation, and that is worth more than the two minutes this page takes to read. It belongs with the rest of my guide to Trachten and Bavarian customs.

The words, what they mean, when to use them

Munich’s own tourism office publishes a page teaching visitors Bavarian dialect for Oktoberfest, and the table below is built from it. Nothing here is guesswork; every definition is the city’s own¹.

Source: muenchen.de¹.

Resi says Learn four: Servus, Prost, Brezn and Ja mei. Servus and Prost get you through every social moment that matters, Brezn keeps you from calling it a pretzel to someone selling it, and Ja mei will make a Bavarian smile the first time you use it correctly, because it means you were listening.

How to actually say them

Nobody sourced a pronunciation guide for you, so here is mine, and it needs no citation because it is just how the words sound to an ear that has heard them for years. Servus is “SEHR-voos,” soft on the second syllable. Maß rhymes with the English word “mass,” not “mace,” despite what the umlaut-free spelling suggests to an English reader. Brezn collapses the “e” almost entirely, closer to “BRETS-n” than “BRET-zen.” Gaudi is “GOW-dee,” not “GAW-dee.” Prost is exactly what it looks like, one syllable, said with the glass already moving toward someone else’s.

Bairisch and Bayerisch: two words that look like typos of each other

Munich’s own dialect page distinguishes two words that trip up English speakers precisely because they look like the same word misspelled: Bairisch is the dialect itself, the language of everything in the table above, while Bayerisch describes anything relating to the Free State of Bavaria more broadly, official documents, institutions, the government. A Bavarian saying “des is bayerisch” about a law and “des is bairisch” about a word are making two different claims, and mixing them up is a small, forgivable, entirely visitor-shaped mistake¹.

Bavarians will let you know they are not "just German"

Ask a Bavarian where they are from and you may get “Bavaria” before you get “Germany,” and it is not an accident. Bavarians commonly refer to everyone else in the country, in good humor, as Preißn, Prussians, regardless of whether that person has ever been near Prussia, and there is a saying for the whole attitude: “It’s nice to be a Preiß, but it’s higher to be a Bayer.” Bavaria calls itself a Free State in its own official name, and more than a few Bavarians still miss their king, Ludwig. Non-Germans tend to lump the whole country together and credit Bavaria’s specifics, the Tracht, the castles, even the cuckoo clock, to “Germany” generically, and a Bavarian will notice. The cuckoo clock, for what it’s worth, is actually from the Black Forest, nowhere near Bavaria, which makes the mix-up a little bit Bavaria’s problem too.

Why some words you might expect are missing

Grüß Gott, the formal southern-German greeting, is the phrase most guidebooks reach for first, but I could not confirm it on any of the sourced pages for this article; what Munich’s own dialect page actually teaches is Griaß di and Griaß eich, the Bavarian-dialect versions of the same greeting, which is why those are the ones on the table above and in the title instead. A handful of other classic dialect words, Grüß Gott among them, along with Pfiat di, Habe die Ehre and a few more, turned up in earlier research but could not be confirmed against a source I could actually read this pass, so they are left out rather than guessed at.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most useful Bavarian word for a visitor to know?

Servus. It works as both hello and goodbye, with anyone, at any point in a conversation.

What do you say when toasting in Bavaria?

Prost, or Prost beianand when you are toasting an entire table rather than one person.

Is Bavarian a language or a dialect?

It functions as a dialect of German with its own vocabulary and pronunciation; Bavarians themselves often just call it Bairisch.

What does "Wiesn" mean?

It is the local name for Oktoberfest, short for Theresienwiese, the field where the festival is held.

What is a mild Bavarian swear word?

Zefix, used the way an English speaker might use “damn it.” It is common enough to hear, but a visitor using it lands as trying a bit hard.

What does "Griaß di" mean, and how is it different from "Servus"?

Both mean hello, but Griaß di is the dialect greeting used for one person, with Griaß eich for a group, while Servus doubles as hello and goodbye in either case.

Do Bavarians consider themselves German first or Bavarian first?

Many will say Bavarian first, and jokingly refer to other Germans as Preißn (Prussians), regardless of where in the country they are actually from.

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