Lesson 3: Hello and goodbye
Expressions
How can you say hello in German? It depends on who you meet, when you meet and where you meet them.
The easiest way to greet is with a simple 'hallo' (mind the h is hard). That works everywhere anytime with everyone.
If you're meeting friends, you can simply use 'hi', or some variants like 'hei'.
Depending on the time of the day, you can say Guten Morgen in the morning and Guten Abend in the evening. However, they are very formal. You can also say Guten Tag (good day) at any time of the day.
In South Germany, Austria and Switzerland some say 'Grüß Gött' or 'Servus'. Literally, it's 'greetings of god' and Servus comes from the Latin word servant. Also in use in the south: 'Grüß dich' and 'Grüß Sie'. Dich is for informal situations, Sie for formal ones.
So, conclusions: use hallo with everyone, hi with friends and Guten Tag in formal situations. Remember the rest though.
How can you say bye? That's the same in the north and the south.
To your friends you can say 'Tschüss', meaning bye. Other forms are 'bis bald' for see you soon and 'bis später' for 'see you later'.
At work, or in other formal situations, 'auf Wiedersehen' is a good option, as well as 'schönen Tag'. On the telephone, say 'auf Wiederhören'.
The easiest way to greet is with a simple 'hallo' (mind the h is hard). That works everywhere anytime with everyone.
If you're meeting friends, you can simply use 'hi', or some variants like 'hei'.
Depending on the time of the day, you can say Guten Morgen in the morning and Guten Abend in the evening. However, they are very formal. You can also say Guten Tag (good day) at any time of the day.
In South Germany, Austria and Switzerland some say 'Grüß Gött' or 'Servus'. Literally, it's 'greetings of god' and Servus comes from the Latin word servant. Also in use in the south: 'Grüß dich' and 'Grüß Sie'. Dich is for informal situations, Sie for formal ones.
So, conclusions: use hallo with everyone, hi with friends and Guten Tag in formal situations. Remember the rest though.
How can you say bye? That's the same in the north and the south.
To your friends you can say 'Tschüss', meaning bye. Other forms are 'bis bald' for see you soon and 'bis später' for 'see you later'.
At work, or in other formal situations, 'auf Wiedersehen' is a good option, as well as 'schönen Tag'. On the telephone, say 'auf Wiederhören'.
Words
Note: we'll see adjectives like gut more in depth in another lesson. Später is later. And if there's (-) for the plural, it means the plural is the same as the singular.
Exercises
Translate the following small dialogues:
Solutions:
- Hello, mr Felder.
- Good morning ms Müller. Have a nice day.
- See you later, mr Felder.
- Hi, Dieter.
- Hi. See you soon, Thomas.
- Good, see you later.
- Later!
Solutions:
- Hallo, Herr Felder.
- Guten Morgen Frau Müller. Schönen Tag.
- Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Felder.
- Hi Dieter.
- Hi. Bis bald, Thomas.
- Gut, bis später.
- Später!
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