There are many different ways to say Hello and Goodbye in English. In this lesson, you’ll learn some of the most common greetings and goodbyes. The greetings are divided into three groups with appropriate responses.
English Greetings: Group 1
Hi / Hi there / Hello / Hey / Hiya / Howdy
Group 1 Responses
Hi, how are ya? / Hey, how’s it goin’?
English Greetings: Group 2
How ya doin’? / How are ya? / How’s it goin’? / How are things? / How’s life?
Group 2 Responses
Good, and you? / All right, how about you?
You can also say what you’ve been doing recently. For example:
“How are things?”
“Good! I’m really looking forward to my vacation next month. And you?”
“How’s it goin’?”
“All right. I’ve been working a lot lately. How about you?”
English Greetings: Group 3
What’s up? / What’s new? / What are you up to?*
* Some people pronounce “What are you up to?” as “Whatcha up to?”
Group 3 Responses
Not much. / Not much, how about you?
Similarly to group 2, you can also give some information about your current or recent activities in order to continue the conversation:
“Whatcha up to?”
“Not much, I’m just preparing some material for my class tomorrow. And you?”
“What’s new?”
“Not much. I had a job interview the other day – I think it went pretty well!”
“Oh, really? Where did you interview?”
Goodbyes in English
Bye / Bye-bye / See ya soon / See ya later / Catch ya later / Check ya later / Take care / Take it easy / Have a good one!
Want more ways to say “Goodbye”? Here’s a really big list!
