Some German you learn by analyzing the grammar; this page you learn by memorizing whole phrases. Greetings, farewells, and good wishes are fixed social formulas — ready-made building blocks you slot in at the right moment without taking them apart. Trying to construct them word by word usually produces something stiff or wrong. The most important thing to notice is that German has formulas English simply does not have, and some of them are socially obligatory: there are moments when not saying the formula is itself rude.
Greetings
The all-purpose, time-neutral greeting is Hallo — safe at almost any moment, with anyone. The time-of-day greetings are slightly more polite and very common.
| Greeting | When / where | Register |
|---|---|---|
| Hallo | any time, anyone | neutral |
| Guten Morgen | morning (until ~10–11) | neutral / polite |
| Guten Tag | daytime; the standard polite greeting | polite / formal |
| Guten Abend | evening | polite |
| Moin (regional: north) | any time of day (despite "Morgen") | informal, regional |
| Servus (regional: south/Austria) | hello AND goodbye | informal, regional |
| Grüß Gott (regional: south/Austria) | daytime, polite | polite, regional |
Guten Morgen! Haben Sie gut geschlafen?
Good morning! Did you sleep well?
Moin, na, alles klar bei dir?
Hi (northern), so, everything good with you?
The regional greetings carry strong identity. Moin is northern and works all day (not just the morning, despite the look of it). Grüß Gott and Servus are southern and Austrian — Grüß Gott is the polite daytime greeting there, while Servus is casual and doubles as a goodbye.
Moin in Munich or Grüß Gott in Hamburg and you mark yourself as an outsider — charming if you mean it as a joke, odd if you don't. When unsure, Hallo (casual) and Guten Tag (polite) are safe everywhere.Asking how someone is
Wie geht's? ("How's it going?") is the standard informal opener; the full polite form addresses the person directly. Crucially, the answer changes its pronoun with du/Sie.
Wie geht es Ihnen? – Danke, gut, und Ihnen?
How are you? – Thanks, well, and you? (Sie form: Ihnen).
Wie geht's? – Danke, gut, und dir?
How's it going? – Thanks, good, and you? (du form: dir).
Note the pronoun swap: with Sie you say und Ihnen?, with du you say und dir?. Getting this matched to the greeting is part of sounding natural. Unlike in English, this exchange is genuinely phatic — gut is the expected answer even on an average day.
Farewells
| Farewell | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|
| Tschüss | bye | informal, very common |
| Auf Wiedersehen | goodbye (lit. "until we see again") | polite / formal |
| Bis bald / später / morgen / dann | see you soon / later / tomorrow / then | informal |
| Mach's gut | take care | informal |
| Schönen Tag noch! | have a nice day still | neutral / friendly |
| Schönes Wochenende! | have a nice weekend | neutral / friendly |
| Gute Nacht | good night (going to bed) | neutral |
Tschüss, bis morgen! Schönen Abend noch!
Bye, see you tomorrow! Have a nice evening!
Auf Wiedersehen, Frau Schmidt, und vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe.
Goodbye, Ms Schmidt, and many thanks for your help.
The little add-on … noch (Schönen Tag noch, Schönen Abend noch) means roughly "for the rest of the day" and makes a farewell warm and idiomatic. On the phone, Germans say Auf Wiederhören ("until we hear again") instead of Auf Wiedersehen.
Introductions
Ich heiße Anna. Und wie heißt du?
My name is Anna. And what's your name?
Freut mich! / Sehr erfreut, Ihren Namen zu hören.
Pleased to meet you! / Very pleased (formal).
Ich heiße … is the everyday way to give your name (literally "I am called"); Mein Name ist … is a touch more formal. The standard response to an introduction is Freut mich ("pleased [to meet you]"), often with a handshake in formal settings.
The obligatory good-wish formulas
This is the heart of the page — the formulas English does not have, several of which are socially expected. Skipping them can come across as cold or careless.
| Formula | When you must / should say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| Guten Appetit! / Mahlzeit! | before a meal (Mahlzeit esp. at work, midday) | (no real equivalent; "enjoy") |
| Gesundheit! | after someone sneezes | "bless you" |
| Gute Besserung! | to someone who is ill | "get well soon" |
| Prost! / Zum Wohl! | when toasting / clinking glasses | "cheers" |
| Herzlichen Glückwunsch (zum Geburtstag)! | birthdays, achievements | "congratulations / happy birthday" |
| Viel Glück / Viel Erfolg / Viel Spaß! | before a challenge / event / fun activity | "good luck / success / have fun" |
| Frohe Weihnachten / Frohe Ostern! | at Christmas / Easter | "Merry Christmas / Happy Easter" |
| Guten Rutsch! | just before New Year | "have a good slide (into the new year)" |
| Willkommen / Herzlich willkommen! | welcoming someone | "welcome" |
So, das Essen ist fertig – guten Appetit!
Right, the food is ready – enjoy your meal!
Du siehst krank aus. Gute Besserung, ruh dich aus!
You look ill. Get well soon, get some rest!
Prost! Auf eure Gesundheit und ein gutes neues Jahr!
Cheers! To your health and a good new year!
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag! Alles Gute für dich!
Happy birthday! All the best to you!
Guten Appetit (or Mahlzeit at work) before people start eating, Gute Besserung to anyone who is ill, and Gesundheit when someone sneezes. Saying nothing in those moments reads as inattentive, not neutral.A mini-dialogue: greeting, introduction, farewell
– Guten Tag! Ich glaube, wir kennen uns noch nicht. Ich heiße Lena.
– Good afternoon! I don't think we've met yet. My name is Lena.
– Hallo Lena, freut mich! Ich bin Tom. Wie geht's Ihnen?
– Hi Lena, pleased to meet you! I'm Tom. How are you?
– Danke, sehr gut! Schön, Sie kennenzulernen. Bis später dann – schönen Tag noch!
– Thanks, very well! Nice to meet you. See you later then – have a nice day!
The English contrast
English greetings are relatively flexible and few are obligatory — you can skip "bless you" or eat without saying anything, and no one minds. German is more ritualized: certain formulas are expected, and they are fixed (you cannot improvise Guten Appetit into something else). Two further differences trip English speakers up. First, the answer to "how are you?" carries a pronoun that must match du/Sie (und dir? vs und Ihnen?) — English just says "and you?" Second, regional greetings (Moin, Grüß Gott, Servus) carry an identity weight that English greetings do not.
Common Mistakes
❌ Servus! (zu einem Fremden in Hamburg)
Regional mismatch — Servus is southern/Austrian; in the north it sounds out of place. Use Hallo or Guten Tag.
✅ Guten Tag! (überall sicher)
Good afternoon! (safe everywhere).
❌ Wie geht es Ihnen? – Danke, gut, und dir?
Pronoun clash — you opened with Sie (Ihnen) but answered with du (dir); keep them matched.
✅ Wie geht es Ihnen? – Danke, gut, und Ihnen?
How are you? – Thanks, well, and you? (both Sie).
❌ (jemand niest – du sagst nichts)
Omission — German expects Gesundheit after a sneeze; saying nothing reads as inattentive.
✅ Gesundheit!
Bless you!
❌ Glücklicher Geburtstag!
Direct calque of 'Happy Birthday' — German does not say this; the fixed formula is different.
✅ Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag!
Happy birthday!
❌ Gute Nacht! (beim Verlassen des Büros um 17 Uhr)
Wrong slot — Gute Nacht is for going to bed, not leaving in the late afternoon.
✅ Schönen Feierabend noch!
Have a nice end to your workday! (the idiomatic leaving-work farewell).
Key Takeaways
- Greetings and good wishes are fixed formulas — memorize them whole, don't build them word by word.
HalloandGuten Tagare safe everywhere;Moin,Grüß Gott, andServusare regional identity markers.- The "how are you?" answer must match the pronoun:
und dir?(du) vsund Ihnen?(Sie). - German has obligatory formulas English lacks:
Guten Appetit/Mahlzeitbefore meals,Gute Besserungto the ill,Gesundheitafter a sneeze. - Don't calque from English —
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, not Glücklicher Geburtstag.
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Greetings, Leave-Taking, and Phatic TalkA2 — Which greeting marks you as a local and which marks you as an outsider: Hallo, Guten Tag, Moin, Servus, Grüß Gott by region and register — plus why 'Wie geht's?' is a real question in German, not the empty ritual English 'How are you?' is.
- Forms of Address and the du/Sie DecisionA2 — When to say du and when to say Sie, who gets to offer the switch, and how titles work — the single biggest social-grammar decision in German.
- Regional Variation: OverviewB1 — An introduction to German as a pluricentric language: three co-equal national standards (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), the standard-to-dialect cline, the main dialect groups from Plattdeutsch to Bavarian and Swiss German, and Swiss diglossia.
- Polite Expressions and FormulasA2 — The fixed phrases of German courtesy — thanks, apologies, requests, and the astonishingly versatile word bitte.
- Set Phrases and Conversational RoutinesB1 — Fixed situational formulas Germans use on autopilot — meal and toasting rituals, shop and service routines, and social leave-takings — learned whole, with their cultural rules.
- Small Talk and Phatic CommunicationB1 — How Germans do (and don't) make small talk, which topics are safe, and why Wie geht's? is not the empty greeting English speakers assume it is.