Hello and goodbye: greetings, please and thank you
Greet people at the right time of day, say goodbye, and use bitte, danke and Entschuldigung like a local.
First words · Start from zero · 15 min · 20 exercises · Start from zero, Living in Germany, Goethe A1
The first German words you need are the ones you say a hundred times a day: hello, goodbye, please, thank you, sorry. They cost nothing, and Germans notice them. A Hallo when you enter a bakery and a Tschüss when you leave make every exchange friendlier, and Bitte and Danke will carry you through your first shopping trip even before you can build a sentence.
Hello and goodbye
- Hallo!Hello! / Hi!informal, any time of day
- Guten Morgen!Good morning!until about 10 or 11
- Guten Tag!Good day! / Hello!the all-purpose formal greeting
- Guten Abend!Good evening!from about 6 p.m.
- Gute Nacht!Good night!only before going to bed
- Tschüss!Bye!informal goodbye
- Auf Wiedersehen!Goodbye!formal goodbye
- Bis später!See you later!
- Bis morgen!See you tomorrow!
- Schönen Tag noch!Have a nice day!
- Moin!Hello! (northern Germany)at any hour, not only in the morning
- Servus!Hello! / Bye! (Austria, Bavaria)informal
- Grüezi!Hello! (Switzerland)
Inside the platform every word is read aloud by a German voice.
Please, thank you, sorry
- Bitte.Please. / You are welcome.also: here you are
- Danke.Thank you.
- Danke schön!Thank you very much!
- Vielen Dank!Many thanks!
- Bitte schön!You are welcome!the answer to Danke schön
- Gern geschehen!My pleasure!
- Entschuldigung!Excuse me! / Sorry!to get attention or to apologize
- Es tut mir leid.I am sorry.a real apology
- Kein Problem.No problem.
- Wie geht es Ihnen?How are you? (formal)
- Wie geht's?How are you? (informal)
- Gut, danke.Fine, thanks.
- Und Ihnen?And you? (formal)
- Und dir?And you? (informal)
Inside the platform every word is read aloud by a German voice.
Two neighbors in the morning
Frau Keller meets her neighbor Herr Yilmaz in the stairwell in Stuttgart.
Guten + the time of day
To greet, say Guten plus the part of the day: Guten Morgen (until about 10 or 11), Guten Tag (until about 6 p.m.), Guten Abend (after that). One exception: Gute Nacht, without n, because Nacht is a feminine noun; and Gute Nacht is only said before bed, never as a goodbye. Hallo and Tschüss work at any hour with people you know.
Which greeting when?
| Time of day | Greeting | Note |
|---|---|---|
| until about 10 or 11 | Guten Morgen! | colleagues often shorten it to Morgen! |
| from about 11 to 6 p.m. | Guten Tag! | the all-purpose formal greeting |
| after about 6 p.m. | Guten Abend! | also when you arrive at an evening event |
| before going to bed | Gute Nacht! | only for sleeping, not for leaving |
| any time, informal | Hallo! | friends, classmates, young people |
| any time, leaving | Tschüss! / Auf Wiedersehen! | informal / formal |
Short exchanges
- Danke schön! Bitte schön!Thank you very much! You are welcome!schön makes both words warmer
- Entschuldigung! Kein Problem.Sorry! No problem.
- Wie geht's? Gut, danke. Und dir?How are you? Fine, thanks. And you?informal, with dir
- Wie geht es Ihnen? Danke, gut. Und Ihnen?How are you? Fine, thank you. And you?formal, with Ihnen
- Tschüss, bis morgen!Bye, see you tomorrow!
Hallo or Guten Tag?
In shops, offices and with teachers, use Guten Tag and Auf Wiedersehen and the formal Sie. Hallo and Tschüss are for friends, classmates and young people, though many shop assistants now say Hallo and Tschüss too. It is normal to greet when you enter a small shop, a waiting room or an elevator, and to say goodbye when you leave. Regions have their own words: Moin in the north (at any hour), Servus in Bavaria and Austria, Grüezi in Switzerland.
Bitte is the Swiss Army knife of German politeness. It means please (Noch einmal, bitte), you are welcome (as the answer to Danke), here you are (when you hand something over) and even pardon (Wie bitte?). Train one reflex: whenever you hear Danke, answer Bitte.
Do not say Gute Nacht when you leave in the evening: it means you are going to bed. Say Auf Wiedersehen or Tschüss instead. Watch the ending too: it is Guten Morgen, Tag, Abend but Gute Nacht. And do not use Wie geht's as small talk with strangers: Germans ask it only when they want a real answer, so a cashier will not expect it.
The exercises of this lesson
20 corrected exercises in two sessions (discovery, practice), including listening items read aloud by a German voice: multiple choice (4), fill in the gap (5), matching (3), sorting (2), word order (1), translation (3), find the mistake (1), gap text (1). Every answer is corrected immediately, with the rule that applies.