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The moment a carafe of wine lands on a Greek taverna table — or a small glass of ouzo, or anything drinkable at all — there is a beat before anyone drinks. Someone raises their glass. Eyes go around the table. Glasses tap. The word is said. Then everyone drinks.
Skipping that beat is noticed. Not dramatically, nobody says anything, but it registers. And the word itself is the easy part — you can learn it in four seconds. What actually separates a foreigner who has done this before from one who hasn't is where they look, what they say when someone calls for aspro pato, and whether they shout "opa" at the wrong moment.
Quick answer: yamas (γεια μας, pronounced YA-mas) means "our health" — in English, it is simply the Greek for "cheers". It is the everyday short form of στην υγειά μας (stin iyia mas), "to our health", and it covers about nine in ten Greek toasts.
The 3 Mistakes Tourists Make When Toasting in Greece
1. Shouting "opa" as a toast
This is the big one. Opa (ώπα) is not a toast and never was. It's an exclamation — closer to "whoa!", "oops!", or "there it is!" It's what a Greek says when a plate slips, when the saganaki catches flame, when someone hits the right step in a dance. It expresses a spike of feeling, not a wish for health.
Raise your glass, shout "opa," and every Greek at the table will understand precisely what has happened: you learned Greece from a film. It's affectionate, not cruel — but it's noticed, every single time. The word you want is yamas.
2. Sweeping the table with one glance
The eye contact is not decorative. As you clink each glass, you look at that person — individually, in the eye, for the length of the tap. At a table of six, that's five separate moments of contact.
A general sweep of the table while your glass touches everyone's is the tourist move. It takes the same two seconds and communicates the opposite thing: that the toast is a formality you are performing rather than a wish you are making.
3. Clinking an empty glass
An empty glass takes no part in the toast. Clinking one is considered bad luck — mildly, in the way that stepping on a crack is bad luck, but consistently enough that a Greek will pull their glass back rather than let you do it.
If your glass is empty when a toast is called: either it gets refilled first (someone will notice and pour), or you raise it and nod without touching anyone's glass. Both are fine. Tapping it is not.
The fourth, for honesty's sake — aspro pato is a promise, not a flourish. It means "white bottom": drain the glass until you can see the base. Say it over tsipouro because it sounds good and you have just committed the entire table to emptying their glasses. Let a Greek call it. When they do, you drink.
How to Toast in Greek: The Ritual
Knowing the word is one part. Executing the ritual is the other, and it takes about four seconds.
Raise your glass. When the toast is called, everyone picks up. Nobody drinks yet.
Make eye contact with each person as you clink. The rule that matters most. Individually, not a sweep.
Say the word. Yamas, or stin iyia mas, or whatever the moment calls for. Said clearly, not mumbled.
Then drink. A sip is enough. Only aspro pato means empty the glass.
Never clink an empty glass. Refill first, or raise-and-nod instead.
At a big table: if reaching someone means a stretch that risks spilling, raise your glass toward them with a nod. The eye contact and the gesture are what count; the physical tap is secondary.
What to Say Back — and Two Other Things Visitors Ask
What do you say back? Yamas. The word already means "our health", so it includes whoever said it first — just repeat it as the glasses meet. If someone toasts you personally with stin iyia sou, answer with the same wish back, or simply efharisto.
Does it have to be alcohol? No. The toast is about the company, not what is in the glass — water, a soft drink or a frappé are all fine, and nobody will think twice. What matters is that there is something in it: see mistake three.
Can you say yamas to mean thank you? No — and this one catches out British visitors in particular, who use "cheers" for thanks at home. Yamas is only ever a toast. To thank someone, say efharisto (ευχαριστώ, ef-ha-ri-STO), which our guide to thank you in Greek covers properly — including the stress most online guides teach wrong.
Where to Actually Raise the Glass
The toast is a ritual, not a phrase — which means you learn it by being at a table where it happens, not by reading about it. These are the settings where the whole thing makes sense in an hour:
Athens — food walking tour ending with meze at a traditional taverna
Santorini — winery tour with tastings
Crete — raki + meze village evening
✓ Selected by Vaggelis · Certified Greek Tourist Guide · These are the tables where the toast happens naturally — a tasting where a Greek pours, not a tourist bar where nobody raises a glass.
Where You'll Hear Yamas
At a taverna over ouzo or tsipouro. The primary context. The first glass is poured, yamas is said, and only then does anyone drink. It sets the tone for the whole meal. The shared-plate culture around it is covered in the meze culture guide.
At a family table. Sunday lunch, Easter, name days. Greek family meals carry multiple toasts across the evening, not one at the start — each significant moment gets its own.
At a wedding. Continuous. Formal toasts (stin iyia sas, na zisete) alongside casual ones, all night.
At a bar. Same ritual, compressed. Yamas said fast, glasses tapped, first sip. No less real for being quick.
What Does Yamas Actually Mean?
Yamas (γεια μας) is a contraction of στην υγειά μας (stin iyia mas) — "to our health." It comes from γεια (ya), health, and μας (mas), us. So the word literally means our health: a wish for the wellbeing of everyone at the table.
It belongs to the same European family as the French à votre santé, the Italian salute, the German prost — all of them toasting health rather than good times.
And it shares a root with the Greek hello. Γεια σου (ya su) — hello — and γεια μας (ya mas) — cheers — are the same wish, differently aimed. When a Greek greets you, they wish you health. When they raise a glass, they wish it to everyone at the table at once. Same philosophy, running through both. (More on the greeting side in hello in Greek.)
Yamas, Yammas, Yiamas or Ya Mas? How It's Spelled
All of them. They are the same two Greek words, γεια μας, written in Latin letters — and because Greek has no single agreed way to spell γεια in English, menus, tattoos and travel guides each pick their own: yamas, ya mas, yia mas, yiamas, yammas, gia mas. None is wrong, and none changes the sound: YA-mas, stress on the first syllable. Yamos and jamas are mishearings rather than spellings — the final vowel is an a, as in mas.
In Greek letters it is written γεια μας, or γειά μας in older spelling with the accent mark. And it is exactly the same in Cyprus: Greek Cypriots toast with yamas too, with the same eye-contact ritual.
The Full Family of Greek Toasts
Yamas — Γεια μας
The default. Casual, warm, immediate. Said when glasses are raised among friends, at the start of a meal, after the first pour. This is the cheers in Greek language that everyone learns and uses. The word that fills every Greek taverna at 10pm on a summer evening.
Stin Iyia Mas — Στην υγειά μας
The full, slightly formal version — "to our health." Used when someone wants to mark a moment: a reunion, a birthday, a significant celebration. Has weight without being stiff.
Stin Iyia Sou / Sas — Στην υγειά σου / σας
"To your health" — directed at one person (sou, informal) or at a group or in formal address (sas). Used when you want to toast a specific person: the birthday person, someone who has done something worth celebrating, the host who made the meal. More personal than yamas.
Aspro Pato — Άσπρο Πάτο
Literally "white bottom" — the instruction to empty your glass until the base (colourless when empty) is visible. The Greek bottoms up. Reserved for moments of genuine celebration, proposed by someone with enough standing at the table to call for it. Not used lightly.
Eviva — Εβίβα
Borrowed from the Italian evviva — "long live" — and understood across Greece, though you'll mostly hear it from older Greeks and at celebrations. It is most at home in the Ionian islands (Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos), where centuries of Venetian rule kept it in everyday use, and it will produce a smile of recognition there. It is also what Google Translate gives you for "cheers": correct, just far less common than yamas.
Na Zisete — Να ζήσετε
"May you live long" — a formal toast at weddings and significant occasions, said to the couple or the person being honoured. Not an everyday taverna toast but one worth knowing if you attend a Greek celebration.
If someone offers you another glass and answers your look with a quick upward tilt of the chin, that is a no, not a yes — the Greek refusal gesture catches almost every visitor out at least once. Our guide to yes and no in Greek covers the words and the gestures together.
Plan Your Greece Trip
- Greek Drinks Guide — ouzo, tsipouro, raki and the drinks you'll be toasting with
- Ouzo Guide — everything about Greece's most famous spirit
- Meze Culture in Greece — the drinking and shared-plate culture that surrounds yamas
- How to Eat at a Greek Taverna — the full guide to taverna culture and etiquette
- Hello in Greek — the greeting that shares its root with yamas
- Thank You in Greek — efharisto and the essential gratitude phrases
- How to Plan a Trip to Greece — the full planning framework
🥂 Planning a trip to Greece? Use our AI Trip Planner to build your itinerary and find the right Greek destination for your travel style. Yamas!
Written by
Athens-born engineer · Coordinates a 5-expert Greek team · 50+ years combined field experience
I write every article on this site drawing on real, first-hand expertise — mine and that of four colleagues who live and work across Greece daily: a Peloponnese tour operator, a transfer specialist across Athens, Mykonos & Santorini, a Cretan hotel owner, and a Northern Greece hotel supplier. Nothing here comes from a single visit or desk research.
Informed by 5 Greek experts
Every destination we cover has been visited and vetted by at least one team member — not for a review, but as part of their daily work in Greek tourism.