English, just like many other languages in the world, has many different ways of greeting people or saying “Hello“.
L’inglese, come molte altre lingue del mondo, presenta diversi modi per salutare le persone.
In English we have standard greetings:
In inglese esistono alcuni saluti “standard”:
– Hello, Jack. How are you?
– Ciao Jack. Come stai?
– I’m fine, thank you, Paul. And you?
– Bene Paul, grazie. E tu?
– I’m fine, thanks.
– Sto bene, grazie.
Here are examples of other ways that we can say “Hello” and sound more native when speaking. Look at the following conversation between four different people and the different ways they greet each other.
Jack: Hey, Paul, how’s it going? I haven’t seen you in a while!
Jack: Ciao, Paul, come stai? È da tanto che non ti vedo!
Paul: Hi, Jack! How are things?
Paul: Ciao Jack! Come va?
Jack: Well, thanks, I can’t complain. This is my friend Simon. He’s here to visit from Australia.
Jack: Bene, grazie, non mi posso lamentare. Questo è il mio amico Simon. Mi è venuto a trovare dall’Australia.
Paul: What’s up, Simon? Are you well?
Paul: Come va Simon? Tutto bene?
Simon: Hiya, Paul! I’ve heard a lot about you.
Simon: Ciao, Paul, ho sentito parlare molto di te.
Paul: Guys, this is my girlfriend Janet.
Paul: Ragazzi, questa è la mia fidanzata Janet.
Janet: Hello, guys! It’s nice to meet all of you!
Janet: Ciao ragazzi! Lieta di conoscervi!
So, as you can see, there are many different ways of greeting people.
Remember that.
• “Hey“, “Hi” and “Hiya” are all friendly and informal alternatives to “Hello“.
• “I can’t complain” means you have nothing bad to say, everything is fine. You will often hear the grammatically incorrect “Can’t complain”.
• “How’s it going?” can be used to ask how someone is or instead of “Hello“.
• “How are things?” is an informal way of asking “How is everything in your life?” or “How are you?” People often use the grammatically incorrect “How’s things?”.
• “What’s up?” is a very informal way of saying “Hello“.
• “Are you well?” is another way of saying “How are you?”
I hope you have found this interesting. Now you can practice all your greetings the next time you meet an English speaker.