English Greetings & Goodbyes

Level: A1. This is a phrasebook of ways to say hello and goodbye in English — sorted by how formal they are, so you can pick the right one for a new boss, a close friend, or an email. Learn a couple from each group and you’ll always have something that fits.

By the end of this page you can…

…choose a greeting and a goodbye that match the situation, open and close a conversation smoothly, and tell a formal setting from a casual one.

How formal should you be?

The single most useful idea here is register — how formal or casual a phrase feels. Get it wrong and you sound either stiff or over-familiar. The safe rule: when you don’t know someone, lean polite; with friends, relax. Every phrase below is marked formal, neutral or casual so you can choose quickly.

Ways to say hello

Asking and answering ‘how are you’

A greeting is usually followed by a quick check-in. Remember that most of these are friendly rituals, not real questions — a short reply and the same question back is all anyone expects.

Ways to say goodbye

Opening and closing a conversation

Native speakers rarely stop a chat dead. They signal the end first, then say goodbye — two steps.

A: Anyway, I should get going. B: Oh, okay. It was nice talking to you! A: You too. See you soon. B: Bye! Take care.

The phrases Anyway, I should go and It was nice talking to you are the signal; See you soon and Bye are the actual goodbye. Doing both makes the ending feel polite rather than sudden.

Greetings in writing

Email and messages have their own greetings. Don’t carry spoken slang into a formal message.

Example sentences

Play each line and say it along with the audio.

Quick recap before you practise.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Using Good night to greet someone in the evening → ✅ Use Good evening; Good night is only for leaving.
• ❌ Hey to a new manager or in a formal email → ✅ Hello or Good morning in speech, Dear … in writing.
• ❌ Stopping a chat with a sudden Bye → ✅ Signal first (Anyway, I should go), then say goodbye.
• ❌ How are you? answered with a long story → ✅ Fine, thanks. And you? — it’s a friendly ritual.
• ❌ See you tomorrow when you won’t → ✅ See you soon or See you later if you’ve no fixed time.

Practice

How to say it

A few of these phrases blur together in natural speech — copy the links, don’t separate every word.

• How are you? runs into one smooth sound, roughly “howaryou”; the are almost disappears.
• How’s it going? sounds like “howzit-going” — the s links straight into it.
• Good morning drops the d: say “goo-morning”, not two sharp words.
• See you later often becomes “see-ya-later” in casual speech.

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

Next

• Previous: 50 English Survival Phrases
• Next: English Politeness & Please/Thank-You
• Related lesson: English: Greetings & Introductions
• New here? Start with Start Learning English Here