Openings and farewells, from the most formal to the most relaxed
Good morning, Mrs Hale - Morning.
How to use this sheet
English has no separate polite and familiar pronouns, so much of the weight of respect and distance falls on the phrase you open with. That first phrase tells the other person how close you believe the two of you already are. A long opening with a title and a surname, like the one in the top row, sets a respectful distance; the clipped one-word form further down closes that distance to almost nothing. Neither is more correct than the other. What matters is that the distance you claim matches the distance the other person expects, because a mismatch is heard instantly, long before anyone notices your grammar.
| Greeting | When it fits | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Good morning, Mrs Hale. | Before midday, with someone you address by title | Full respect, professional distance |
| Good afternoon. | After midday, at a desk, a shop or a reception | Correct and neutral; no closeness claimed |
| Good evening. | Arriving somewhere in the evening | Formal courtesy, usual in hotels and restaurants |
| Hello. How are you? | Almost anywhere, with almost anyone | Polite without being stiff; the safest choice |
| Hi. Nice to meet you. | Meeting someone new in a relaxed workplace | Friendly; treats you both as equals |
| Hi there. How's it going? | A colleague or neighbour you see often | Warm; assumes you already know each other |
| Morning. | Passing someone at work early in the day | Brief and familiar; very common in Britain |
| Hey. All right? | Close friends, family, people your own age | Very casual; a greeting, not a real question |
| Goodbye. Thank you for your time. | Leaving a meeting or an interview | Formal close; marks the end clearly |
| It was a pleasure to meet you. | Leaving someone you were introduced to today | Polite warmth at a first meeting |
| See you tomorrow. | Leaving colleagues at the end of the day | Ordinary and friendly; expects a next time |
| Take care. Bye. | Friends and family, ending a visit or a call | Affectionate and relaxed |
In use
Good morning, Mrs Hale, your visitor is here. Hello, I am Ana, and I am new in this office. Take care, and see you on Monday.
Watch out
Good night, everyone, I have just arrived at the party.
The phrase in the third row and the one people say at the very end of an evening are near twins, one word apart, and learners reach for the wrong one constantly. The third row is an arrival phrase: you use it walking into a hotel, a restaurant or somebody's home once the evening has started. Its twin is a departure phrase, which is why it appears nowhere in the table; it belongs to the doorway, the last words of the day, or the moment before sleep. The incorrect sentence above opens with that departure phrase and then announces an arrival, so the listener hears a contradiction and often assumes you are leaving again.