20 English Greetings To Sound Natural In Conversation

G’day! 

This is just one of the English greetings you’re going to learn in this post.

I’m sure you already know “hi,” “good morning,” and “hello”. But there are many more phrases you can use when greeting and bidding farewell to someone.

Learning these English greetings will add variety to your conversational English and help you sound more natural too.

So let’s dive in!

1. Hey There! 

This is a casual and friendly way to greet someone. You can use it with friends, people you know well, and people you generally have a friendly relationship with. 

You can also use it with people you don’t know but want to appear friendly to. Staff members in most cafès in London would greet you by saying, “Hi there!”

Example:

Speaker A: “Hey there! How can I help you?” 

Speaker B: “Hi! Could I have a hot chocolate please?”

2. What’s Up? 

Have you ever wondered why the messaging app WhatsApp is called WhatsApp? Apparently,  Jan Koum, one of its co-founders, named the app WhatsApp to sound like “what's up”, a slang greeting you can use to ask about someone's current situation. 

No wonder many of the text conversations I start with my friends on WhatsApp start with me saying, “What’s up, buddy?” 

While it may seem like a question, this is often used more as a way to say “hello” than a genuine inquiry into someone's well-being or current activities. 

So you don’t need to respond to “What's up?” with an in-depth explanation of everything you’ve been doing. You can just say, “All good” or “Not much”.

Example:

Speaker A: “Hey, what's up?”

Speaker B: “Not much, just chilling at home. How about you?”

3. Howdy! /ˈhaʊdi/

Howdy is another casual greeting commonly used in certain English-speaking regions, especially in the southern United States. 

The word comes from the phrase “How do ye?,” which was used in late 16th century England to inquire about others' health. But, like “What’s up?”, people use it as a friendly way to say hello, not as a question to know how well you are.

Example:

Speaker A: “Howdy! How's your day going?”

Speaker B: “Hi! It's been pretty good so far. Thanks for asking.”

4. G’day Mate!

This is what the Aussies (people from Australia) say Down Under (Australia). It’s a very informal way to say hi and it’s very common in the land of kangaroos.  

“Mate” is an informal word to say “friend”. But what’s that “G” + the apostrophe?

I’ll give you a hint. Australians love shortening words, so the “service station” becomes “the servo”, “arvo” means “afternoon,” and “breakfast” becomes “brekkie.” Guess what “good” becomes then!

Here’s a quick example

Speaker A: “G’day mate!”

Speaker B: “Hi!”

Want to say “G’day mate” as an Aussie? Check this video Pete from Aussie English  made for you.

5. Sup Bro!

“Sup bro!” is a slang greeting commonly used among friends, especially in New Zealand.

“Sup” is short for “What's up?” while “bro” is a colloquial term short for “brother”. So, as you can imagine, this is a very informal way to say hi to your friends.

Speaker A: “Sup bro!”

Speaker B: “Sup!”

6. Yo! /joʊ/

Here’s another slang word to say hello. It’s typical of American English slang and it became popular thanks to the Italian-American community in Philadelphia, USA, in the 1940s.

Have you ever seen the Rocky film series? Rocky Balboa is an Italian-American boxer from Philadelphia and he uses it all the time!

7. Alright?

“Alright?” is a casual and abbreviated form of “Are you alright?” or “Are you doing alright?”

You can use this as a friendly and informal way to ask if everything is okay or as a greeting instead of “hello”. 

Speaker A: “Alright?”

Speaker B: “Alright! How’s it going?”

8. How Have You Been?

This is another way to say “How are you?” that you can use as a greeting in informal or friendly settings. 

Speaker A: “Hey, John! How have you been?”

Speaker B: “Hey, Sarah! I've been great, thanks for asking. How about you?”

9. Long Time No See!

There are times when you’re happy to see a person you haven’t seen in a long time and this is a nice phrase you can use to show them you’re glad to see them again.

Speaker A: “Hey, Olly! Long time no see! How have you been?”

Speaker B: “Hey, Cara! It’s been ages! I’ve been great! And you?”

10. How Do You Do?

You may say, “How do I do what?!” 

No worries, no one is asking you about how you do things. This is a very formal way to say hello.

It’s probably what the British royal family would use when greeting authorities around the world.

The funny thing about this is that you could reply by repeating the question. Like this:

Speaker A: “How do you do?”

Speaker B: “How do you do?”

Weird, I  know.

11. See/Catch You Later/Soon!

When you and another person part ways, you can simply say “See you later” even though you have no real plan to see that person again soon.

This is a polite way to say goodbye and you can use it both in formal and formal situations.

Speaker A: “Well, I should get going now. See you later!”

Speaker B: “Sure, take care! See you later!”

12. See You/Ya!

“See ya!” is similar to “see you later” but more informal (“ya” is slang for “you”).

Speaker A: “I need to go guys! See ya!”

Speaker B: “See ya!”

13. Have A Good One!

This is my favourite way of saying goodbye. 

It’s short for “Have a good [day/evening/weekend/etc.],” so you can use it in many different situations – both informal and formal. It’s a very flexible phrase. 

Speaker A: “I’m leaving. Have a good one!”

Speaker B: “Thanks! You too.”

14. Bye For Now

You can use this when you know you’re going to see the person again soon.

Speaker A: “OK I’m going home for a shower. I’ll see you tonight. Bye for now.”

Speaker B: “Okay, see you later.”

15. Enjoy The Rest Of Your Day/Night

Don’t you love this one? It’s a friendly and polite way to say goodbye that wishes well to the person you’re leaving. Lovely phrase.

Speaker A: “Thanks for coming to the meeting, everyone. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Speaker B and C: “Thanks, Mark. You too. Bye!”

16. I’ll See You Around

There are times when you don’t know whether or not you’ll meet a person again because you live in different towns or maybe you know it’s unlikely you’ll see each other again. In this case, you can say “I’ll see you around”. 

I like this phrase because “around” could mean many things, It might mean around town, around the office, or even around the world!

Speaker A: “It was great chatting with you. I’ll see you around!”

Speaker B: “Yeah, see you around. Bye!” 

17. So Long

“So long” is an informal and casual way to say goodbye. It’s a mysterious phrase though. Why do we use these two words? What is so long? Why not so short? Hmm…weird. 

Some say it comes from Ireland, others claim it’s an Americanism. If you’re interested in finding out more about this, you read this article. 

Speaker A: “Well, I should be on my way. So long!”

Speaker B: “Bye bye. So long!”

18. Take Care

Take care of what? Take care of yourself, of course! This is why you can use this phrase when you want to express a wish for someone's well-being. Here's an example of how you can use it

Speaker A: “Well, I'll see you later. Take care!”

Speaker B: “Thank you! You too. Take care!”

You can use “take care” in formal and informal contexts.

19. Ciao!

The beautiful thing about languages is that they’re very generous. They lend and borrow words and phrases all the time without asking for a deposit. English has borrowed many over the course of history and “ciao” is just another one of these. 

Italians use this greeting to say both hi and goodbye. “Ciao” works in both cases in Italy, but in English speakers only use it when leaving and bidding farewell.

Speaker A: “Alright, I need to go now. Ciao!”

Speaker B: “Take care! Ciao!”

“Ciao” is informal. I wouldn’t use it with people I don’t have a friendly relationship with.

20. Take It Easy

What a cool way to say goodbye. When you’re parting ways with a person, you can use “take it easy” as an informal phrase to express a wish for them to relax, take care of themselves, or have a stress-free time.

You can use it in various situations and this is a phrase that’s often associated with a laid-back and easygoing attitude. 

Speaker A: “Well, I'll see you later. Take it easy!”

Speaker B: “Thanks! You too. Take care!”

English Greetings

All right! What do you think of these English greetings? Did you learn any new ones? 

Remember that another way to expand your repertoire of greetings is to read short stories in English. Books are usually rich in direct speech so it’s highly likely that you’ll see something like this:

“I must go now,” said John, looking sad.

“OK, take care, my friend.”

So why not follow the rules of StoryLearning method and read English books where you'll see these greetings in action?

Wouldn’t this be a fun way to learn? 

I hope you’ll give it a go! And I also trust I’ll “see” you again on my blog, so I can only say to you, “Bye for now!”

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.