Everyday greetings

We usually greet people with “hi” or “hello.” “Hi” is a bit more casual.

Hello!

Hi!

Hey!

It’s common to say “hey” for informal meetings. It’s also important to know that the word “hey” can be used to grab someone’s attention.

How are you?

How are you doing?

How’s it going?

How have you been?

All the questions above have a similar meaning.

I’m fine, thanks.

I’m good, thanks.

I’m great, thanks!

Pretty good!

Not bad, thanks.

Many people say “not bad” to mean “quite good.”

If the person that you say hello to is a friend or somebody you know, you can say:

Hey, what’s up?

What’s new?

What’s happening?

What’s going on?

Nothing. / Not much. / Nothing much.

Be aware that, usually in English-speaking cultures, people don’t typically give away a lot of personal information during a brief, informal or accidental meeting.

Listen carefully to the two videos below. Make notes of the phrases and sentences. Pay special attention to pronunciation.

Other everyday greetings are:

How’s everything?  

Long time no see. 

Hey, long time no see.  

How’s your day?  

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening

To make “good morning” less formal, you could say “morning.”

If you want to wish someone well for the night before leaving or sleeping, you can also say “goodnight.”

Saying goodbye

Bye!

Bye” is the short form of “goodbye.”

See ya, see you soon, hope to see you soon

When you plan to meet the person soon.

Take it easy, take care, take care of yourself

These three ways of saying goodbye encourage the person in question to look after themselves until you see them again. They are informal, polite, and a friendly way to end a meeting.

Nice to meet you!

“Nice to meet you” is used as a friendly greeting when you meet someone for the first time.

Hello. It’s nice to meet you!

But, how should you respond to a person telling you: “nice to meet you!”

Would “Me too” be okay?

You may like to start by saying “Thank you” as this is more polite. Then:

Formal:

  1. Nice to meet you too.the most common way
  2. Pleased to meet you too/as well.
  3. It’s a pleasure to meet you too/as well.
  4. Pleasure to meet you too.
  5. The pleasure is all mine.

Formal and informal:

  1. It’s very nice to meet you (too/as well).
  2. Nice to meet you too.
  3. Lovely to meet you.
  4. Likewise.
  5. Glad to meet (you too).
  6. You too.
  7. Pleasure.
  8. And you.
  9. Same here.

Now, what about “Me too?”

Try to avoid using “me too” because there is not a consensus about that. Saying “me too” wouldn’t make sense as it means “It’s also nice for me to meet me.” 

Got it? So there are plenty of other options. Vary according to the person you are responding to and the setting.

Difference between Miss and Lose

The verbs MISS and LOSE have several different meanings in English and they can be easily confused.

When to Use MISS

We use MISS in these cases:

  1. to not attend an event or something
  • I missed your birthday. 
  • Alan, you missed a great concert last night.
  • You missed class on Friday.

2. to arrive too late to get on a bus, train, or plane

  • John missed the train this morning.

3. to not see or hear something

  • The goalkeeper missed the ball.
  • Sorry, I missed that. Could you repeat it please?

4. to feel sad about someone or something that you have stopped seeing or having

  • My sister moved to Vietnam last year. I really miss her!
  • I miss my girlfriend. She’s on holiday with her family.

IMPORTANT: if you are going to use a verb after the verb MISS, this verb must be in the gerund

  • I miss going out with my friends.

When to Use LOSE

We use LOSE in these cases:

1. can’t find something or something’s gone

  • I lost my dog. Please help me to find him.

2. sports games

  • My favorite football team lost 5-1 in the semifinal.

3. someone is gone from your life

  • I lost my Grandmother last year.
  • I’ve lost my girlfriend. We had a messy break up and I don’t think I’ll ever see her again.
  • She lost her husband during the war.

Collocations

  • miss a chance/opportunity
  • lose a chance/opportunity
  • miss the point
  • lose time/money
  • lose confidence/interest/hope etc
  • lose weight/height/speed etc
  • lose your sight/hearing/voice/balance etc
  • lose sight of something
  • lose track of something/somebody

PRACTICE: Choose between the proper form of lose or miss.

a. The lady looking after the property was very helpful when we got lost/missed on the way back.

b. It is possible to lose/miss weight fast without dieting.

c. My pen is losing/missing from my desk! Who’s had it?

d. When Sylvia noticed her credit card was losing/missing, she called her credit card provider and cancelled it.

e. My apartment is only a block from the office, so I don’t lose/miss time commuting to work.

f. I lost/missed quite a lot of money on the stock exchange last year.

g. My daughter lives in Paris. I lose/miss her a lot.

h. I’ve just lost/missed the fast train to London.

i. Can you say that again, please. I lost/missed the thread of the conversation.

j. You’ve lost/missed the point. I don’t care about the money.

a. lost; b. lose; c. missing; d. missing; e. lose; f. lost; g. miss; h. lost; i. missed; j. missed

What do you do?

When talking about a place we work in, we say:

“I work in” + “a” + place of work

  • I work in a restaurant.
  • She works in an office.
  • We work in a shop.

When we are talking about a field of work, we say:

“I work in” + field of work

  • He works in marketing.
  • She works in finance.

However, when we give our job title we use the verb “to be”, so we say:

  • I’m a teacher.
  • You’re a doctor.
  • Are you a designer?
  • We’re students!
  • He’s unemployed.

Dialogue

Oliver: What do you do, Ava?

Ava: I’m a doctor! How about you?

Oliver: I work in a restaurant, but I’m also a student!

Ava: Cool!

Now we are going to introduce the verb “to study”:

Do you work in finance? No, I study French at university.

These three verbs all remain the same, except when they are paired with “he/she”:

I + do / work / study

you + do / work / study

he / she + does / works / studies

we + do / work / study

they + do / work / study

Examples:

Do you work in marketing?

Does he speak Turkish?

study Chinese at university.

She studies economics at university.

We study medicine at university.

We work in a restaurant.

He works in an office.

Dialogue

Hannah: What do you do?

John: I work in marketing. How about you?

Hannah: I’m a student. I study German.

John: My sister studies German, too!

Hannah: Nice!

John: What does your sister do?

Hannah: She works in a restaurant.

Now let’s finish our lesson introducing or reviewing vocabulary for jobs and occupations with this easy ‘What am I?’ quiz. Each answer is a job.

Wait a minute. Hold on a second.

What would you say to tell someone to wait?

‘One moment, please.’

That’s okay but first, let’s also learn casual language for the expression ‘one moment, please.’

When we need people to wait, even for a short time, we need to say the right things to let them know about the delay. Here are ways to tell someone to wait in everyday conversations, from the formal to the slang.

Professional, formal, everyday situations

  • One moment, please.
  • Just a moment/minute, please.
  • Bear with me, please. (= please be patient for a moment)
  • I won’t be long. (= the other person will only need to wait for a short time)

Casual – colleagues at work, friends

  • Wait/just a second.
  • Just a sec.
  • Just a moment/minute.
  • Excuse me for just a moment/minute.

Slang – friends, family and when we are in a hurry

  • Hold on (a sec)!
  • Hang on (for a minute/a second/ a sec)!
  • Gimme (= give me) a moment/minute/second.
  • Hold your horses! (Idiom) Where are you going without your jacket! It’s cold outside!
  • Hold your horses! Did you say we have to meet at 5 tomorrow?
  • Hold your horses. Let’s calm down for a moment.

Note: in the UK and Australia, you might hear:

  • Just a tick.
  • Wait a tick.
  • Hold on a tick.