Greeting - Basic

Formal greetings:

Good morning- Buenos días.

Good afternoon- Buenas tardes (desde las doce hasta las siete).

Good evening- Buenas tardes-noches (desde las siete hasta las diez).

Informal greetings

Hi!

Hello!

Despedida ( farewell (adiós))

Good-bye- Adiós.

Good night- Buenas noches. (Despedida)

Hay muchas despedidas formales e informales en inglés con significados muy distintos. Algunas de ellas las utilizaremos en el inglés de conversación y otras en cartas o emails, algunas son comunes entre la gente jóven y otras son más tradicionales.

DESPEDIDAS COLOQUIALES

Despedidas	Ejemplos	Cuándo usarlo	Con quién usarlo (ejemplos)
Good-bye (adios)	- I'll call you again soon. Goodbye! (Te vuelvo a llamar pronto. Adios)	Al hablar o escribir a alguien con quien se busque mantener un tono amistoso. No tan informal como "bye", pues "bye" es una abreviación de "good-bye". Común en lenguaje oral, pero no en emails o cartas.	Amigos, parientes, conocidos, gente en la calle
See you soon! (hasta pronto)	- Have a nice time, see you soon! (Pásalo bien. ¡Hasta pronto!)	Se usa con personas cercanas a las que esperas ver pronto. Común tanto en lenguaje oral como en emails o cartas informales.	Amigos, conocidos, parientes
Have a nice day (que tengas un buen día)	- Have a nice day, honey. (que tengas un buen día, cariño) - Have a nice day, sir. (Que tenga un buen día, señor)	Se puede desear un "nice day" tanto a personas muy cercanas como a aquellos con quienes se mantiene una relación más cordial. Más común en habla que en email o carta.	Amigos, conocidos, parientes
Best wishes (mis mejores deseos)	- Best wishes, Paul (Mis mejores deseos, Paul)	Al final de una carta coloquial pero cordial, como una felicitación de Navidad en inglés. Va seguida por la firma, que puede ser el primer nombre del autor o el nombre y apellido(s), según lo formal que sea la carta.	Amigos, conocidos, parientes
Best (lo mejor) soft	- Best, Mike (lo mejor, Mike)	Despedida muy común que se usa al final de una carta coloquial, un email cualquiera con personas que puedas o no conocer personalmente, pero con quienes mantienes una relación no formal. Va seguida por la firma, que será el primer nombre del autor.	Amigos, conocidos, clientes y compañeros de trabajo (informal)
Thanks! / Thank you (gracias)	- Thanks, Kathy (Gracias, Kathy) Thank you, Peter. (Gracias, Peter).	Al acabar una conversación o al final de una carta. Carta: a modo de despedida cuando el receptor ha prestado algún tipo de servicio al autor. "Thanks" es más informal que "Thank you", pues la primera es una abreviación de la segunda y las abreviaciones suelen ser más informales.	Amigos, parientes, compañeros de trabajo y clientes
Good luck! (buena suerte)	- I know you'll do great in your exam. Good luck! (Sé que te irá muy bien en tu examen. ¡Buena suerte!) Thank you, Peter. (Gracias, Peter).	Puede usarse al final de un email o como despedida en una conversación. Se puede desear "good luck" a alguien que presenta un examen, una entrevista de trabajo, una propuesta, una conferencia, etc.	Amigos, parientes, compañeros de trabajo, etc.

DESPEDIDAS INFORMALES

Despedidas	Ejemplos	Cuándo usarlo	Con quién usarlo (ejemplos)
Bye	- I'll call you again soon. Bye! (Te vuelvo a llamar pronto. Adios)	Despedida muy común que mantener un tono amistoso e informal. Oral y escrito.	Amigos, parientes, gente en la calle
See ya!	- Ok, I'm out! See ya! (Ok, me voy. Nos vemos)	Para evitar despedidas largas. Común en lenguaje oral entre la gente joven.	Amigos
Have a good one!	- Have a good one Mike! (que vaya bien, Mike) - Thanks Toni, you too! (gracias Toni, tú también)	Expresión informal y amistosa para decir adios. Lenguaje oral.	Amigos
Have fun!	- See you later then. Have fun! (Nos vemos luego, pues. ¡Diviértete!)	Puede usarse cuando te despides de una persona que va a una fiesta, un viaje, o algún evento divertido. Lenguaje oral y escrito.	Amigos, parientes
Cheers!	- See you on Friday Mike. Cheers!	Despedida informal como "ciao" o "bye", pero típica de Gran Bretaña. También es una palabra que se usa para brindar.	Amigos
Take care	- Have fun and take care! (¡diviértete y cuídate!) - Take care Jack and remember to call me when you get to the airport. (Cuídate Jack y recuerda llamarme cuando llegues al aeropuerto).	Normalmente para de alguien que se va de viaje, a hacer algo arriesgado, o a cualquier evento.	Amigos, parientes

There are many ways to greet someone. We'll learn about the most common way to greet someone in this lesson. I'll give a variety of example sentences.

Press the link to listen to de audio!

Greeting someone you never met:
"Hi, my name is Steve. It's nice to meet you."
You can respond to this by saying,
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Jack."

Another common question to ask is

"What do you do for a living?"

You can respond to this by saying,

"I work at a restaurant."
"I work at a bank."
"I work in a software company."
"I'm a dentist."

Usually, you will not need to ask for a name. It is implied that each person should say their name. But in case they don't, you can ask,

"What is your name?"

Many times, I don't hear the name. If you would like for them to repeat their name, you can say,

"What was that again?"
"Excuse me?"
"Pardon me?"

Greeting Someone you Know

"Hey John, how have you been?"
"Hi Bob, how are you?"
"Hi Nancy, what have you been up to?"
"Andy, it's been a long time, how are you man?"

If you meet someone unexpectedly, you can say,
"Hey Jack, it's good to see you. What are you doing here?"
or
"What a surprise. I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been?"

If you see the person at a restaurant, you can say, "Do you come to this restaurant often?"
Or at the movie theatre, "What movie did you come to see?"

Appropriate responses:

"Hi Steve, my name is Mike. It is nice to meet you as well."

"I heard a lot about you from John. He had a lot of good things to say."

"Wow. How long has it been? It seems like more than a year. I'm doing pretty well. How about you?"

A typical response to this type of greeting is simple.

"Not too bad."

If asked what you have been up to, you can respond with, "Same ole same ole." Or, "The same as usual."

Here are some other example responses.

"I'm pretty busy at work these days, but otherwise, everything is great."
"I'm doing very well."
"I finally have some free time. I just finished taking a big examination, and I'm so relieved that I'm done with it."

Restaurant Responses

"I've been here a couple of times, but I don't come on a regular basis."
"I come pretty often. This is my favorite restaurant."
"I can't believe we haven't seen each other before. I come here at least twice a week."

Movie Response

"I came here to see Matrix Revolution. How about you?"

Greeting - Example Conversations

Let's look at several example conversations. Then we can move on to the practice section.

Person A: "Hi, my name is Steve. It's nice to meet you."
Person B: "I'm Jack. It's a pleasure to meet you, Steve."
Person A: "What do you do for a living Jack?"
Person B: "I work at the bank."

Person A: "What is your name?"
Person B: "Jackson."
Person A: "What was that again?"

Person A: "Hey John, how have you been?"
Person B: "What a surprise. I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been?"
Person A: "I'm doing very well. How about you?"
Person B: "I finally have some free time. I just finished taking a big examination, and I'm so relieved that I'm done with it."

Person A: "Hi Nancy, what have you been up to?"
Person B: "The same ole same ole." Or, "The same as usual. How about you?"
Person A: "I'm pretty busy at work these days, but otherwise, everything is great."

Person A: "Andy, it's been a long time, how are you man?"
Person B: "What a surprise. I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been?"
Person A: "Do you come to this restaurant often?"
Person B: "I've been here a couple of times, but I don't come on a regular basis."

The next lesson is the interactive practice section. If you would like to repeat this lesson or previous lessons, feel free to go back and study as many times as you need. When you are ready, go to the practice section.

Greeting - Interactive Practice

Click on Listen All and follow along. After becoming comfortable with the entire conversation, become Person A by clicking on the Person A button. You will hear only Person B through the audio file. There will be a silence for you to repeat the sentences of Person A. Do the same for Person B. The speed of the conversation is native speed. Use the pause button if the pause between each sentence is too fast for you. After practicing several times, you will be able to speak as fast as a native.

Listen All | Person A | Person B

A: "Hi, how are you doing?"
B: "I'm doing great. How about you?"
A: "Not too bad."
B: "Do you come to this restaurant often?"
A: "I've been here a couple of times, but I don't come on a regular basis. What have you been up to?"
B: "I'm pretty busy at work these days, but otherwise, everything is great."
A: "Well, have a good evening."
B: "You too."

Listen All | Person A | Person B

A: "It's nice to meet you. My name is Jack."
B: "I'm Steve. It's a pleasure to meet you."
A: "What was your name again?"
B: "Steve."
A: "So Steve, What do you do for a living?"
B: "I work at the public library. How about you?"
A: "I'm a University student."
B: "That's great. It was nice meeting you."
A: "Yeah. It was a pleasure meeting you."

Listen All | Person A | Person B

A: "Hey Jack, it's good to see you."
B: "Wow. How long has it been? It seems like more than a year. I'm doing pretty well. How about you?"
A: "Not too bad."
B: "What movie did you come to see?"
A: "I came here to see Matrix Revolution. How about you?"
B: "I'm going to watch Finding Nemo."