English Greetings and Introductions for Beginners

Learn the most useful English greetings and introductions for beginners. This lesson is for A0-A1 learners who want simple phrases they can use immediately at school, work, online, while traveling, or when meeting new people.

Start with these four sentence patterns: Hello. My name is... How are you? Nice to meet you. If you can use these correctly, you can begin many basic English conversations with confidence.

The key rule is simple: choose your greeting based on the person and the situation. Use formal greetings with teachers, managers, customers, and strangers. Use informal greetings with friends, family, and people you know well.

This lesson includes common phrases, formal and informal examples, short dialogues, mistakes to avoid, and practice exercises. For more beginner foundations, review our beginner guide to English grammar.

Quick List: Essential English Greetings and Introduction Phrases

Basic phrases to learn first

Saying hello

Hello.
Hi.
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Good evening.
Hey.

Asking how someone is

How are you?
How are you today?
How is it going?
Are you OK?
What's up?

Introducing yourself

My name is Sara.
I'm Ahmed.
I'm from Morocco.
I'm a student.
I work in a store.

Beginner tip: You do not need long sentences. A clear greeting, your name, and one short answer are enough for your first conversation.

Formal and Informal Greetings in English

When to use each greeting

English has formal, neutral, and informal greetings. This is important because the same phrase can sound polite in one situation and too casual in another.

Formal

Use with teachers, managers, customers, strangers, and older people.

Good morning. How are you today?

Good evening. Pleased to meet you.

Neutral

Safe in most situations, especially when you are not sure how formal to be.

Hello. Nice to meet you.

Hi. How are you?

Informal

Use with friends, family, classmates, and people you know well.

Hey! What's up?

Hi! How's it going?

Safe choice: If you are not sure, say Hello or Hi. These two greetings work in most everyday situations.

How to Introduce Yourself in English

Simple self-introduction formula

A good beginner introduction has four parts: greeting, name, country or city, and job or study. You can add one hobby if the conversation is friendly.

Hello. My name is Lina. I'm from Jordan. I'm a student. Nice to meet you.

Hi, I'm Omar. I live in Canada. I work in a restaurant. Nice to meet you.

Good morning. My name is Maria. I'm from Spain. I'm here to learn English.

Notice the grammar: My name is is a complete phrase. I am can become I'm in normal speech. You can learn more about short beginner sentence patterns in our A0 to C2 English grammar spectrum.

How to introduce another person

To introduce another person, use This is.... Then the other person can answer with Nice to meet you.

A: Hi, Sara. This is my friend, Ali.
B: Nice to meet you, Ali.
C: Nice to meet you too.

English Greetings Dialogues for Beginners

Dialogue 1: Meeting a new classmate

A: Hi. I'm Adam. What's your name?
B: Hello. My name is Nora.
A: Nice to meet you, Nora.
B: Nice to meet you too.

Dialogue 2: Formal greeting at work

A: Good morning, Mr. Brown.
B: Good morning. How are you today?
A: I'm fine, thank you. And you?
B: I'm very well, thank you.

Dialogue 3: Casual greeting with a friend

A: Hey, Sam! What's up?
B: Not much. How's it going?
A: Good, thanks.
B: See you later!

Common Mistakes with Greetings and Introductions

Mistake 1: Saying "How you?"

Correct form

How are you?

English needs the verb are in this question. Say How are you?, not How you?.

Mistake 2: Using "Good night" as a greeting

Correct use

Use Good evening when you meet someone at night. Use Good night when you leave or when someone is going to sleep.

Mistake 3: Answering "How are you?" with too much detail

Better answers

I'm fine, thanks. And you?

I'm good, thank you.

Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Choose formal or informal

Your teacher enters the room. Say: Good morning or Hey?
You see your best friend. Say: What's up? or How do you do??
You meet a new customer. Say: Pleased to meet you or Yo?

Exercise 2: Complete the introduction

Hello. My name is _____. I'm from _____. I'm a _____. Nice to meet you.

Exercise 3: Fix the mistakes

How you?
Good night, nice to meet you.
My name Ahmed.
I from Egypt.

Final Review: What You Should Remember

English Greetings and Introductions Summary

Formal

Good morning.

How are you?

Pleased to meet you.

Neutral

Hello.

Hi.

Nice to meet you.

Informal

Hey!

What's up?

See you later!

Remember: The best beginner strategy is to stay simple. Say hello, give your name, ask one polite question, and respond with a short positive answer.

Next step: Practice one formal greeting, one neutral greeting, and one informal greeting out loud today.

Main question: Who am I talking to, and what is the situation?