When you meet someone, whether it’s a friend, or someone you run into for the first time, you can greet him with a short salutation, like:
Hello!
Hi!
Hey!
Of these three common salutations, “Hello” and “Hi” can be used for friends or strangers; “Hey” is for friends or people you have already met. So there’s a slight difference among the three. We usually don’t use “Hey” to greet someone you meet for the first time.
Hello! (for friends and strangers)
Hi! (for friends and strangers)
Hey! (for friends)
A salutation is a form of greeting, just like you begin a letter with “Dear Sir,” or “Dear Mrs. Jones.” It serves as an opener, bringing the attention of the person to whom you’re speaking or writing.
Hello / Hi / Hey = Dear Sir, Dear Mrs. Jones,
On the word “Hello,” sometimes, you may see people spell the word “Hello” as “Hullo,” or “Hallo.” The pronunciations are basically the same. The Longman Dictionary says the latter two are British English spellings.
Hello
Hullo
Hallo
If you are seeing a friend, you can add to your short salutation with your friend’s first name, such as:
Hello, James!
Hi, Lily!
Hey, Helen!
If you like, you can extend your greeting by asking a question, like:
Hello, James! How are you?
Hi, Lily! What’s up?
Hey, Helen! What’s going on?
When you are talking to your friend, you can choose to skip your friend’s name in the greeting, as:
Hello, how are you?
Hi, what’s up?
Hey, what’s going on?
The expression “What’s up?” simply means “What’s going on?” Both are common greetings we use among friends. They simply mean “what is happening?” or “what is going on in your life?”
What’s up? = What’s going on?
Here, I want to talk a bit about the use of the apostrophe in these two expressions, as well as the right way to say these two greetings.
“What’s up?” is the colloquial writing of the spoken version of “What is up?”
Likewise, “What’s going on?” is the colloquial writing of the spoken version of “What is going on?”
“What’s up?” = “What is up?”
“What’s going on?” = “What is going on?”
The punctuation apostrophe after the word “what” – that little comma put on top after the letter “t” is what we call the apostrophe. It is used to replace the letter “i” in the verb “is.” To indicate the omission of letters or numbers is one of the two functions of apostrophe. Apostrophe can replace one or more letters or numbers.
In English, this is a written form to reflect how we actually talk in real life. So in real life speech, we’ll say, “What’s going on?” rather than “What-is-going-on?”
Also, there are spellings like: Sup? / Whassup? / Whazzup? / or even Whudup? These, and some others, are colloquial abbreviations of "What's up?" in spelling and in informal speech, among mostly teenagers and younger ones. Young ones are quite creative with their use of the language.
Let's look at the structure of a greeting, using the expression "What's going on?" as an illustration.
When you greet someone, as said earlier, you can start with a salutation, followed by your friend’s name, then ask a question, like:
Hey, Helen! What’s going on?
You can also put your friend’s name after the question, as:
Hey, what’s going on, Helen?
Whether the name is placed before or after the question, both are acceptable and correct.
For beginners, let’s concentrate on these two formulas of greeting:
Salutation – name – ask a question (greeting formula #1)
Hey, Helen! What’s up?
AND
Salutation – ask a question – name (greeting formula #2)
Hey, what’s going on, Helen?
Now you know the formulas of greeting, here are some other common ways to ask the question in greetings:
How’s it going?
How are you doing?
What’s new?
How’s everything?
How are things?
How’s your day?
How’s your day going?
What’s happening?
How’s life?
You can simply substitute these different questions into our formulas. Take the last one, “How’s life?” as an example, with our greeting formulas:
Hey, Helen! How’s life?
AND
Hey, how’s life, Helen?
You may have heard Americans use expressions like “Hey, man!” “Hey, dude!” “Yo, dude!” to greet a male friend, perhaps in the movies. You may even have heard someone greet a younger female friend in such a fashion.
“Man” and “dude” of course refer to men. So if you use these terms to greet a female friend, sometimes, your friend may feel offended.
Also, these greeting expressions are usually used colloquially in younger, more casual circles. For us non-native speakers, if you are not comfortable using them, stay away.
Hey, man!
Hey, dude!
Yo, dude!
When you greet a group of friends, you can say, “Hi, guys!” to refer to a group of male friends, or a group of male and female friends, or even a group of female friends. This may sound a little confusing, but the word “guys” here is gender neutral. You can use "guys" to address girls as well as boys.
Hi, guys! (the word “guys” is gender neutral)
We have covered greetings to friends you see often in a more casual way. What about friends, colleagues or family members that you haven’t seen for a while, and now you meet them, how should you greet them?
You can use the following expressions, which may not necessarily be a question, like:
Good to see you!
Nice to see you!
Long time no see!
It’s been a while!
How have you been?
Let’s take two of these expressions and substitute them into our greeting formulas:
salutation – name – ask a question (greeting formula #1)
Hey, Helen, how have you been?
salutation – question / statement – name (greeting formula #2)
Hey, good to see you, Helen!
So far, we have covered greetings to friends or people you’ve known for a while. What about greetings to someone you meet for the first time, or in a more formal setting? In this case, we often use the expression “How do you do?” like:
Hello, how do you do?
If you already know the other person’s name, you can add the name in the greeting:
Hello, Mr. Curry. How do you do?
Hello, Janet. How do you do?
Notice that the expression “How do you do?” is not meant as a genuine question about your well-being, and an answer is not expected. It is similar to saying, “Nice to meet you.”
How do you do? = Nice to meet you.
In a formal setting, a greeting exchange might go like this:
Mr. Curry: “Good evening, Mrs. Jones. How do you do?”
Mrs. Jones: “Good evening. How do you do?”
Remember: Don’t address the other person in his or her full name in greetings. You either use the person's last name, then add a courtesy title to it, or greet him by the first name.
Common courtesy titles include: Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms. and Dr.
If the time is in the morning, “Good morning!” is a common way of greeting to your colleagues, business clients or neighbors. For example:
Good morning, Mrs. Jones!
Good morning, James!
If it’s in the afternoon, or in the evening, you can also use “Good afternoon!” or “Good evening!” in the greetings.
“Good morning!” can be shortened by saying “Morning!” in a more casual way. Similarly, you can also use “Afternoon!” or “Evening!” as informal greetings.
Keep in mind that “Good night!” is only used to say “Good bye!” at night. So if you are meeting someone late in the day, remember to greet him or her with “Good evening!” not with “Good night!”
Good night! = Good bye! (at night)
In the United States, particularly in the mid-western states, you’ll often hear people use “Howdy!” to greet friends, or even strangers on the street. “Howdy!” is a short form for “Hello,” or “How do you do?”
Howdy! = Hello = How do you do?
In small towns in the United States, people there are generally friendly. Passersby you have never met before would greet you with a nod and a smile, and say, “Good morning!” in the mornings, “Howdy!” or “How do you do?” in other times of the day, while you are just taking a walk through town.
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