There are many ways in which one can greet another person. However, which greeting to use often depends on the region - whether it's north Germany, south Germany, Switzerland or Austria - they all have a rather different way of greeting each other.
I remember how I was very surprised during my first visit to Switzerland, that even strangers greet each other when they bumped into each other on a sidewalk, passing by each other during a hike or even in an elevator. Of course, this mainly happens only in small towns usually because you can't possibly great every single person when you're at a place filled with people.
The Different Ways of Saying Hello
Grüezi (formal) / Grüezi mitenand (formal)
meaning : hello / hello all
literal translation : «Gott grüez i» which means
"May God greet you" (German: Gott grüß euch.)
Sometimes people may also use «Grüezi wohl» instead of «Grüezi»
«Grüezi mitenand» simply means "I greet you all (together)." (German: Grüß euch miteinander.) so this should only be used when you're greeting more than one person.
You'd use this to greet strangers who are adults, but never with kids younger than you (I've made this mistake before! How embarassing!) because it's a formal way of greeting.
This greeting can be used at any time of the day, including phone calls.
This is mainly used in central or eastern part of Switzerland. In the western part of Switzerland, like Solothurn, Bern or Basel, it's more common to hear «Grüss eech».
Hoi! / Hoi zäme! (informal)
meaning: Hi! / Hi everyone!
German: Hallo / Hallo zusammen!
Sali! / Sali zäme! (informal)
meaning: Hi! / Hi everyone!
German: Hallo / Hallo zusammen!
This is usually used in Aargau, Zürich
(in areas close to French-speaking Switzerland)
«Salü» is commonly used in Bern.
Moin! / Moin Moin! (informal)
meaning: Hi!
Often used in northern part of Germany (specially in Hamburg)
«Moin!» is used at any time of the day when greeting someone
Servus! (informal)
meaning: Hello! / Goodbye!
literal translation: In Latin it means "at your service"
More commonly used in Austria and Bavaria
Can be used for both "hello" or "goodbye".
Grüß Gott (formal) / Grüß dich! (informal)
meaning: Hello
literal translation: God greets you / Greetings to you
This is the formal or more polite version of «Servus!» which is mainly used by older generations (in Austria/Bavaria)
Greetings According to Time of the Day
Guten Morgen! (formal/informal)
meaning: Good morning!
This greeting is used from early morning until approx. 10 or 11am
Swiss German: Guete Morge!
Guten Tag! (formal/informal)
meaning: Good day!
This greeting is used from 11am until approx. 5 or 6pm
«Guten Nachmittag» which means "Good afternoon" is very rarely used as a greeting
(or not at all). «Guten Tag» is used instead as it can be used throughout all afternoon.
Swiss German: Guete Tag (or you can also use Grüezi) /
Guete Daag (Basel, Solothurn, Fribourg, Valais)
Guten Abend! (formal/informal)
meaning: Good evening!
This greeting is used after 5pm
Note that you'd use «Guten Abend» even at night (like 10pm) to greet people
instead of «Gute Nacht».
«Gute Nacht» is only used when you wish someone goodnight before going to bed.
Swiss German: Guete Obig
The After-greetings
There are some phrases which often comes after you greet someone. This of course doesn't apply if you're just greeting "Good day!" to someone who you pass by on the sidewalk.
Wie geht es dir? (informal) / Ihnen? (formal)
meaning: How are you?
The shortened form of this is «Wie geht's dir?» or just «Wie geht's?» (How's it going?)
This is often only asked when it comes to people you already know, not strangers. The person who ask often expects a response like "good, thank you" or "not so great" but they'd never expect an in-depth personal sharing of how you're actually feeling.
Was ist los? (informal)
meaning: What's up?
Used informally and often by younger generation.
When use in other context, «Was ist los?» can also mean "What's the matter?".
For example, when you notice that a friend is crying so you ask him/her «Was ist los?»
Alles klar? (informal)
meaning: All good?
Mostly used by younger generations, and is colloquial
so you'd use with people you're familiar with.
When used as greeting with a asking question tone, it means "All good?"
but in a statement tone, «Alles klar.» can also mean "All clear." / "It's all good."
One would respond to this by saying "Ja, alles klar, danke" (Yes, all good, thank you)
Na? (informal)
meaning: Hi, how are you?
Mostly used in northern Germany,
very informal so you'd use with people you're familiar with.
«Na.» can also means "Well".
The response to this question would also be «Na.» (I'm fine, thank you)
but with statement tone instead of a question. Or you can also say "Na, wie gehts?"
This reminds me a lot of "How do you do?" greeting, where it's supposed to be responded back with "How do you do?" as well, although that's not very common anymore these days.
Herzlich Willkommen! / Willkommen!
meaning: Heartfelt welcome / welcome!
This is used for example, when your guests arrive at your home for a party and you're standing at the door to greet them.
Swiss German: Wilkomme
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