Hi everyone
And welcome to a brand-new
clip by us,
The Superpolyglotbros.
I'm Matthew.
And I'm Michael.
This is the first of our easy German series,
a series dedicated to getting you talking
in German
In just a few minutes.
Now today we're going to be looking at
The first thing that you'll probably want
Or have to do
When arriving in a German-speaking country or region:
Saying hello.
So, let's get started.
Los geht's!
The standard form for greeting someone
During the day in German is:
Guten Tag.
This is suitable for all formal situations
And is usually or often accompanied by a handshake.
Guten Tag is something that you can use
With someone that you've just met
Or not on familiar terms with.
It literally means "Good day".
And therefore is used during the daytime.
If you meet someone in the morning
You can say "Guten Morgen"
Which literally means
Good morning.
In the evening we say "Guten Abend",
Good evening.
Another still rather formal way of greeting somebody
During the morning, afternoon or evening
Is the term "Hallo".
Over the last few
decades or so,
The English greetings "Hi" and "Hey"
Have become rather popular
In German-speaking regions and countries,
Especially amongst younger people,
So it's also rather common
To hear them now in German.
You might also hear the term
Hallöchen,
The 'chen' ending being a diminutive
Or a term of endearment.
Another way of greeting
Someone you know very well in German is
Grüß dich.
Now this is the shorter version of a greeting
Still widely used in southern Germany
And Austria
But we'll get to that in just a
minute.
Now that we've got the main phrases done
Let's have a look at some regional ways
Of saying hello
The German language is
spoken by
Approximately 100 million people
In many different places in
Europe,
So just like many other languages
There are different varieties and
dialects of it.
If you're in northern Germany
You'll most definitely hear the
term
Moin.
Now, this word most likely goes back
To the Lower German or Plattdeutsch term
"moi",
meaning "beautiful",
And not from the German "Morgen".
It's a word you can use any time of the day
To simply say hello
Now, you can duplicate it even and say
Moin Moin
Or even Moinsen.
Berliners and people from North Rhine-Westphalia,
Also known as NRW for short,
Can also be heard saying the word
Tach
Or, in Berlin, Juten Tach
Which reflects the regional
pronunciation
Of the German "Guten Tag".
From the Saarland southwards
You'll most likely hear the word
Servus.
Now, what's interesting about this
Is that it can also be used to say "bye",
Just like "ciao" in Italian.
Another common greeting in the south
Is the term Grüß Gott
Which is used for formal
occasions.
Do you remember the term "Grüß dich" from before?
Well, Grüß Gott literally means
"May God greet you",
A bit like "God be with you" in English,
which then became "goodbye".
Grüß dich is the shorter form of
"Es grüße dich Gott".
Now, if you're on familiar terms with someone
in southern Germany or Austria,
Instead of using "Grüß Gott"
You can also try and use
the local variety of "Grüß dich",
which sounds something like "Griaß di"
depending on where you are.
In Switzerland you'll most likely hear
the term
Grüezi
Which is "Grüß euch",
And "euch" being the plural of "dich".
This is said in the north and the east.
In the west however,
You will hear
Grüessech
And this is used at any time of the day.
Other familiar forms you might hear include
"Tschau" from Italian (Ciao)
And "Sálü" from French (Salut).
So, there you have it!
Next time, we'll be taking a look
At how to say goodbye
So until then it's
Bye for now
Or, Servus!
¡Adiós!
Slán!
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