Greetings and introductions

What you will practice

• Choose a greeting that fits the time of day.
• Use du with people you know and Sie with adults you do not know.
• Say your name and ask for someone else’s name.

Explanation

Time of day

Guten Morgen is for the morning. Guten Tag covers the middle of the day, and Guten Abend is for the evening. Hallo is friendly at any hour. When you leave at night, Gute Nacht is the usual phrase. It is a goodbye, not a greeting you use when you arrive.

du and Sie

du is for friends, family, children, and people who have offered it. Sie is for adults you do not know, and for shops, offices, and classrooms. The verb changes with that choice: Wie heißt du? is informal, and Wie heißen Sie? is formal. The formal Sie is written with a capital letter.

Names

Ich heiße Leyla and Ich bin Leyla both give your name. Freut mich is a short way to say you are pleased to meet someone. Woher kommst du? asks where an informal partner is from. The formal question is Woher kommen Sie?

Examples

1. Guten Morgen!Good morning!
2. Wie heißen Sie?What is your name? (formal)
3. Ich heiße Leyla.My name is Leyla.
4. Woher kommst du?Where are you from? (informal)
5. Auf Wiedersehen!Goodbye. (formal)

Common mistakes

• Do not mix the patterns. Ich bin heiße is not a German sentence.
• Tschüss is a casual goodbye. In a formal situation, use Auf Wiedersehen.