How to Say Hello in German (Without Accidentally Being Rude)

So you're learning German and you need to know how to say hello without screwing it up. Good call.

German greetings are weirdly complicated compared to English. You can't just say "hey" to everyone and call it a day. The language has this whole formality system built in, regional variations that'll confuse the hell out of you, and if you use the wrong greeting with the wrong person, you'll know it from the awkward pause.

Here's what you actually need to know.

The Safe Default: Just Say Hallo

Hallo (pronounced HAH-loh) is your best friend when you're starting out. It works in almost every situation—formal, informal, morning, evening, north, south, whatever. Think of it as German's version of "hello."

The only major exception: Switzerland. Swiss German speakers save "Hallo" for people they know. If you're greeting a stranger or in a formal situation in Switzerland, use "Grüezi" instead. Everywhere else, Hallo is fine.

When you need something more formal during business hours, use Guten Tag (GOO-ten tahk). It means "good day" and it's the standard polite greeting from about 11 AM to 6 PM. Use it with your boss, strangers, older people, or anyone you're meeting for the first time.

Time-specific greetings:

You can drop the "Guten" in casual situations: just "Morgen" or "Tag" or "Abend." But keep it when you're being polite.

The Sie/Du Thing (This Actually Matters)

Here's where German gets annoying. The language forces you to pick between formal "you" (Sie) and informal "you" (du) every time you talk to someone. And your greeting choice signals which one you're using.

Sie (always capitalized):

du:

When you're using Sie, stick with formal greetings: Guten Tag, Guten Morgen, Guten Abend. When you're on du terms, you can use Hallo, Hi, or casual stuff.

Germans can work together for years and still use Sie with each other. The switch to du is kind of a big deal—usually someone (the older or higher-status person) will suggest it: "Wollen wir uns duzen?" (Shall we use du with each other?) Once you make the switch, it's permanent.

When in doubt, start with Sie. Nobody's going to be offended by politeness. But jumping straight to du with the wrong person? Yeah, that's awkward.

Regional Greetings (The Useful Ones)

Germans love their regional identity, and greetings are part of that. You don't need to memorize all of them, but knowing a few helps:

Moin (Northern Germany, especially Hamburg)
Used any time of day, despite sounding like "morning." Just say "Moin." Northerners joke that saying "Moin Moin" is too chatty. This greeting is casual and friendly.

Grüß Gott (Bavaria and Austria)
Literally "God greets you," but used secularly. It's formal-ish, traditional, and you'll hear it everywhere in Munich. Older folks use it more than young people.

Servus (Bavaria and Austria)
Casual greeting (or goodbye) that originally meant "at your service." Works like "hey" or "see ya." Don't use it in formal situations.

If you're traveling around Germany, you'll pick up the local greeting pretty fast just by listening. Use it if you want, or stick with Hallo—nobody expects tourists to know every regional variation.

What NOT to Do

Don't use morning greetings in the afternoon. Saying "Guten Morgen" at 3 PM sounds weird. Germans are time-specific about this stuff.

Don't mix Sie with casual greetings. If you're using Sie with someone, don't say "Hi" or "Hey." It sounds inconsistent and odd. Stick with Guten Tag.

Don't skip the handshake in business. Germans shake hands when greeting. Firm but brief, make eye contact. In a business meeting, you shake hands with everyone—not just one person.

Don't use first names with Sie. Unless someone explicitly told you to use their first name while staying on Sie terms, use "Herr last name" or "Frau last name."

Don't forget to greet people entering small spaces. Germans say hello when entering shops, elevators, waiting rooms. It's just basic politeness. You don't need a full conversation—"Guten Tag" or "Hallo" is enough.

Casual Greetings (For Friends)

Once you're on du terms with someone, you can get more casual:

Hi / Hey - Yep, just like English. Young Germans use these all the time.

Na? - This one's hard to translate. It's super casual, common in Berlin and northern Germany, and basically means "What's up?" or "Alright?" You answer with "Na?" right back. Southern Germans and Austrians find this confusing.

Wie geht's? - "How's it going?" Use this when you actually want to know, not as throwaway small talk like Americans do. The response is usually "Gut, danke" (Good, thanks).

Alles klar? - "Everything okay?" Another casual way to greet friends. Just reply "Ja" or "Alles klar."

These work great with friends, but don't use them in job interviews.

How to Actually Practice This

Look, you can read about German greetings all day, but you won't get good at them without hearing how real Germans actually use them in context. The formality stuff, the timing, the regional variations—you pick that up by exposure, not memorization.

We wrote something similar about French greetings, and the same principle applies: you learn this stuff best from real content, not textbooks. When you watch German shows or YouTube, pay attention to who uses which greeting with whom. You'll start noticing patterns—when people switch to du, how they greet strangers versus friends, what's appropriate in different situations.

The informal slang greetings we covered? You'll hear those constantly in casual German content. We have a whole post about German slang if you want to go deeper on that side of the language—the stuff your textbook definitely won't teach you.

Here's the thing: German formality isn't just about memorizing rules. It's about developing intuition for social situations. And you build that intuition by seeing thousands of real interactions, not by reading a list of "do's and don'ts."

That's where Migaku actually helps. Instead of just drilling "Guten Tag" in isolation, you're learning from real German content—shows, YouTube videos, whatever you're into. When someone says "Servus" in a Bavarian comedy, you see the context: it's casual, it's regional, and you'd never say that to your boss. When a character uses "Sie" with someone then switches to "du" later, you see what that transition looks like.

The browser extension lets you look up words instantly while you're watching, so you're not pausing every two seconds to check vocabulary. And when you add words to your spaced repetition deck, they come with the actual sentence from the video—so you remember "Grüß Gott" as something a shop owner in Munich said, not just a phrase on a flashcard.

The mobile app keeps everything synced, so you can review on your phone when you've got ten minutes. And you're not just memorizing greetings in isolation—you're building actual German comprehension from content you enjoy.

If you want to sound natural when you greet Germans, immersion beats rote memorization every time. Migaku makes that immersion practical. There's a 10-day free trial if you want to try it out.