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Questions & Answers about Hallo meneer, hoe gaat het?
Why does the Dutch sentence use gaat instead of the verb for "to be"?
In English you ask how someone is, but in Dutch you ask how things are going. The phrase hoe gaat het? literally means "how goes it?". You will use the verb gaan (to go) for this common greeting.
What does the word het mean in this phrase?
Het literally translates to "it". Just like in the old-fashioned English greeting "how goes it?", Dutch uses het to talk about your general situation rather than directly saying the word "you".
Is hoe gaat het? a formal or informal greeting?
Can I use meneer by itself like "sir" in English?
Yes! In Dutch, meneer works as both "sir" (used on its own, like in this sentence) and "mister" (used before a last name, like meneer de Vries).