Greetings:  Greetings are simply saying “Hello.”  In the United States, people say “hello” in many different ways.  Here are some ways you can greet someone without saying “hello.”

“How” Greetings

Reply

How are you?

How is it going?( sounds like Howz it go-en? )

How’s life

How’s everything?

Good.      

Great.

Excellent!

 Pretty good.    

Fine. 

Not so good *only used when you want to talk about how you are truly feeling.

“What” Greetings

Reply

What’s up?

What are you doing?  ( sounds like “what-cha do-en?” )

What’s going on? 

(sounds like “what’s go-en on?” )

Not much.

Nothing much.

Culture Note #1  The greetings above are the most common ways to greet someone you know or are familiar with.  They are not formal ways to greet someone for the first time.

1st time greeting someone.

Formal:    Hello, my name is ___________.  Nice to meet you. 

Informal:  Hi, my name’s ___________.  Good to meet you.

Last updated on   © 2004  Frank Newman