Hello and Goodbye

Hook: Every conversation in English starts with a greeting — and the one you choose depends on who you’re talking to.

Notice: “Hi! How are you?” — “I’m fine, thanks. And you?” (informal, friends) vs. “Good morning. How do you do?” (formal, meeting someone for the first time).

The rule

  • Informal greetings (friends, family, people your age): Hi, Hey, How’s it going?, See you later, Bye.
  • Formal greetings (meeting someone new, work, older people): Good morning / afternoon / evening, How do you do?, Nice to meet you, Goodbye.
  • “How are you?” is answered with “I’m fine/good/ok, thanks. And you?” — always return the question, it’s polite.

Practice

  1. Which is informal? a) Good evening b) “Hey, what’s up?” c) How do you do? (Answer: b)
  2. Complete: “I’m fine, thanks. ___ you?” (Answer: And)
  3. Match each greeting to formal/informal: Hi / Good morning / See you later / How do you do?
  4. Write a 2-line greeting exchange as if meeting your teacher for the first time.

Try it next: our DefinitionMatch tool with the “Greetings” vocabulary set.

Try the Definition Match Tool →

This lesson supports: “I can interact in a simple way…” (Spoken Interaction).

Azizul Hakim
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