22 Common English Greetings for Every Situation (and How to Reply)

Jump to the full table of 22 greetings, the formal, friendly and casual examples, the reply to “How are you?”, the fast spoken forms or the four dialogues. Every greeting here is a three-turn opener: what they say, what you say back, what you say next.

The 22 common English greetings, formal to casual

This list of greetings runs from the most formal to the most casual, with the regional ones (UK, US South, Australia) labeled at the end. Rows 20 to 22 are heard rather than said unless you live where they come from. If you need 20 greeting words for a class list, take the first 20 rows.

The register labels follow the dictionaries: Cambridge marks how do you do? formal, hey mainly US, g’day Australian and informal, and how are things? / “how’s everything?” / “how’s it going?” as one informal family. Oxford Learner’s has howdy as North American, informal and often humorous, and gives “All right, Bill.” “All right.” as the British “all right” hello.

How to greet someone: match, name, add one line

How to greet someone in English comes down to three moves; the greeting word is the least important of them.

1. Match the register you hear. “Hey” gets “Hey”, “Good morning” gets “Good morning”. When you speak first to a stranger, go one step more formal than you think you need; the other person will pull the register down if they want to.
2. Add the name. “Good morning, Ms. Park” and “Hey, Tom” do more work than the choice of greeting word. If you do not know the name, that is your next line: “Hi, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Maya.”
3. Add one line. A thank-you (“Thanks for making time”), a reason (“I’m here for the 10 o’clock”) or a small-talk question (“How was the trip?”). Without it the exchange stalls after two words; the English conversation topics guide has question sets for that third line.

Formal greetings examples

Formal polite greetings in English are short. In US work settings, “Good morning” plus the name plus a thank-you is as formal as it gets; “How do you do?” is correct but rare. Formal ways to greet someone, with the reply and the next line:

Use “Mr.”, “Ms.” or “Dr.” with the last name at a first formal meeting; switch to first names as soon as the other person uses yours. For what follows the greeting in an interview, see the interview English guide.

Is “Greetings” a formal polite greeting?

In writing, yes. In speech, no. Cambridge defines the plural greetings as “a message that says you hope someone is well, happy, etc.”, and its formal examples are all written or addressed to a group: “Greetings to you, my friends and colleagues”, “Greetings from Paris!”, “Season’s greetings”. Use “Greetings,” or “Greetings, everyone,” at the top of a notice, a card or a group email. Said aloud to one person (“Greetings, Tom”), it sounds stiff or like a joke.

Time-neutral formal greetings for email and calls

Time-neutral greetings matter when you do not know the reader’s time zone or when the message will be opened hours later; “Good morning” sent to a global team lands at 11 p.m. for someone.

• “Hello [name],” formal enough for a first email, works at any hour.
• “Hi [name],” the default opener for most US work email and chat, also time-neutral.
• “Dear [name],” letters, cover letters, first contact with someone senior, formal requests.
• “Good day” is time-neutral but old-fashioned in both Cambridge and Oxford Learner’s.

Friendly greetings examples

Friendly greetings sit between formal and casual: neighbors, colleagues you like, classmates, the barista who knows your order. Each one carries a small question, so the reply answers it briefly and sends it back.

Learners hesitate over “Long time no see” because the grammar looks broken. Cambridge lists long time no see as a normal idiom, “said when you meet someone who you haven’t seen for a long period of time”, and the reply agrees with it: “I know, it’s been ages.”

Casual greetings examples

Casual greetings are for friends, close coworkers and anyone who greeted you casually first. Two of them, “What’s up?” and “What’s new?”, ask what is happening rather than how you are, so “Good, thanks” answers the wrong question.

Cambridge gives what’s up? two senses, “used to ask what is wrong” and “used to ask what is happening, often as a way of greeting someone”, and lists “wassup?” and “whassup?” as spellings of the greeting. Oxford Learner’s traces hiya to “how are you?”, which is why the reply is simply “Hiya”.

Casual greeting responses: short, with a detail, or returned

Casual greeting responses come in three sizes: one or two words that close the exchange, a reply with a detail that invites a follow-up, and a returned greeting that hands the turn back.

How to reply to “How are you?”

The “How are you” reply is two or three words plus the question sent back, because in American English it is a greeting, not a request for information. Cambridge’s own example runs “Hi, Lucy, how are you?” “Fine, thanks, how are you?” The whole exchange takes about three seconds.

• “Good, thanks. You?” The default US reply. Cambridge lists “I’m good” as an informal “general reply when someone greets you”, with the example “How are you doing?” “I’m good, thanks.” The textbook “I’m well” is also correct and sounds a little more formal.
• “Not bad, how about you?” Slightly lower energy, still positive. Common with coworkers.
• “Pretty good, busy week.” The reply with one detail; the detail gives the other person a follow-up.
• “Fine, thanks.” Correct and neutral; without “And you?” it signals that the conversation can end, which is sometimes exactly right (a cashier, a passing colleague).

The same four replies work for “How are you doing?”, “How’s it going?” and “How are things?”. With a manager or a client, use the full form (“Very well, thank you. And you?”). With a friend who wants to know, give the real answer after the short one (“Good. Well, honestly, a long week. The move is taking forever.”); the truth alone, to a stranger, surprises people.

Greetings in email and chat: Hi, Hello, Dear, Hey

Written greetings have fewer options and stricter rules than spoken ones, because the reader cannot hear your tone.

After the first exchange in a thread, drop the greeting line or keep a bare “Hi”; “Dear Ms. Park” on every reply reads as if each message were a new letter. For greetings in meetings and calls, the business English conversation guide has the full phrase sets.

How the greetings sound at natural speed

At normal speed the greetings lose syllables, and the fast version is what a cashier or a coworker walking past will say. Recognize the forms in the middle column, keep saying the full forms yourself, and see the pronunciation practice guide for the sounds and stress behind them.

Five lookalikes that are not greetings

• “Good night” is a farewell. Cambridge defines good night as “said when people leave each other in the evening or before going to bed”. The evening greeting is “Good evening”.
• “How do you do?” is not a question. The reply is “How do you do?” again, as in Cambridge’s example; “I’m fine, thanks” reads the words literally.
• “Greetings!” is not spoken. It opens cards, notices and group messages. Said aloud it is a joke or a robot.
• “Good day” is old-fashioned in both Oxford Learner’s and Cambridge. Australians shortened it to “G’day”; Americans mostly dropped it.
• “What’s up?” with a frown means “what is wrong”. Cambridge lists that sense first; said slowly, with eye contact, it wants a real answer.

Practice: four greeting dialogues with a voice trainer

One dialogue per register. Play the partner’s line, say yours before the trainer moves on, then swap roles. Say the third line out loud too; it is the part learners skip. More exchanges with the same trainer are in the English conversation for beginners guide.

1. Meeting a client for the first time (formal)

2. A colleague in the hallway (neutral)

3. Opening a video call (neutral, with small talk)

4. A friend at the weekend (casual)

Say the reply out loud, not just read it

A greeting takes about two seconds, and the reply has to come before the other person moves on, which is why a table is not enough on its own. Fluently is an AI speaking coach for non-native professionals: you hold voice conversations and role-plays on everyday and work situations, such as meeting a client or opening a call, and after each answer the app shows feedback on pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and grammar. It is on iOS and Android and opens with a free 4-minute speaking assessment; a trial comes before any subscription.

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