I am guessing you thinking this should have been the first blog but I love numbers and sounds more.
Informal greetings: informell
Hey
Hallo
Hi
Tach!
Na! Is for people seen on regular basis and beans everything okay with you? Or Hello, What’s up! One replies with Na
Among friends , family and acquitances, people address each other using first names. Children call their parents and grandparents Mama, Papa, Oma, Opa respectively.
Formal Greetings: Formell
Anytime of the day people say Guten Tag to mean Good day!
Between morning and 11:00 am you say, Guten Morgen. OK the evening from 6pm onwards is Guten Abend but when going to bed its Gute Nacht to meaning Goodnight.
Some use short forms for the evening morning and day greetings with out the guten just like in English.
Except the goodnight one, the rest are said between unfamiliar adults, on business situations, with officials or even shopping.
Often people would Adress with other with Mr/Miss or Mr which is Frau and Herr respectively followed by their last name.
While doing all this, it’s the German culture to shake hands firmly, node or just smile with eye contact. Young women would often hug or kiss each other on the cheek.
Regional greetings
There are some greetings often used in certain regions or other German speaking languages. In Northern Germany, people would said Moin! While Southern it’s Grüß Gott! In Austria, ist Grüß Gott and Servus. Bavarians Use Servus too. In Switzerland, Grüezi is used. All this mean Hello!
Servus can be up mean bye too in the said regions.
Goodbye in German
Talking of byes. Tchüs(s) is the most common to say bye in informal situations. Ciao is used around Europe especially among young people and comes from Italy.
In formal situations, Auf Wiedersehen is used when people are patting ways but on phone, people use Auf Wiederhören.
Other alternatives would be Bis bald to mean see you soon, Bis später to mean see you later, Mach’s gut to mean take care or so long and Schönen Tag to mean have a great day.
Gute Reise – Have a good trip
Wir sehen aus! – What friends say to each other when they see egg others regularly.
Special Greetings and Gopdbye
In casual settings for with on person, one would greet the other with Grüß Sie in formal situations and Grüß dich! in informell setups.
When it’s time to eat, people would often sat to each other Mahlzeit (MallTZeyt) to mean meal time.
Einen schönen Tag noch! – polite way of saying goodbye esp in shops
Tschö is used in Rhineland in Western Germany for goodbye.
A scientist who writes about her daily experiences. Most are drafts but some are publicly shared, like this one you just read.