Skip to main content
Back to path

Welcome to a Grasp lesson

Create a free account to keep studying and create your own study path.

Lesson 2

Greetings & Introductions

Recommended resources

Hello! Welcome back to your A1 English course.

In our last lesson, you did a great job learning the English alphabet and how to spell your name. That's a fundamental skill for introductions. Today, we'll build on that by learning the next step in any conversation: how to greet people and introduce yourself.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use basic greetings like "hello" and "goodbye," and introduce yourself with phrases like "I am..." and "My name is...". This will help you start simple conversations, which is a key part of your goal to use English in daily life.

1. Basic Greetings and Farewells

In English, the way you greet someone can depend on the time of day and how well you know them. Let's start with the basics.

Basic English Greetings and Responses
This image shows some of the most common ways to say hello and ask how someone is.

We can group greetings into two main categories:

  • Formal: You use these in professional situations (at work, in a bank) or when talking to people you don't know or older people.

    • Good morning (used until 12:00 PM)
    • Good afternoon (used from 12:00 PM until about 6:00 PM)
    • Good evening (used from about 6:00 PM onwards)

  • Informal/Neutral: You can use these with friends, family, and in most everyday situations.

    • Hello (this is neutral; you can use it in almost any situation)
    • Hi (this is more informal than "hello")

Similarly, there are different ways to say goodbye:

  • Goodbye (neutral/formal)
  • Bye (informal)
  • See you later (informal)

Important: "Good night" is not a greeting. We only use it when we are leaving for the night or going to sleep.

The poster below provides a great summary of these phrases.

Greeting And Introduction Educational Poster
This poster summarizes greetings, introductions, and farewells for formal and informal situations.

2. Introducing Yourself

After you say hello, the next step is to introduce yourself. The two most common ways to do this are:

  • My name is [Your Name]. (Slightly more formal)
  • I'm [Your Name]. (Very common and friendly. "I'm" is the short form of "I am".)

After someone introduces themselves, a polite and friendly response is:

  • Nice to meet you.

The other person can reply:

  • Nice to meet you, too. or simply You, too.

Now, let's see these phrases in a real conversation. This video shows several people meeting for the first time.

Hello, what's your name? Easy English Conversations 💬 Episode 1

Watch this short video from BBC Learning English called 'Hello, what's your name?'. It shows simple, natural introductions.

Watch the entire video (it's about 2 minutes long). Pay attention to how people greet each other, introduce themselves using 'I'm...', and respond with 'Nice to meet you'.

Now it's your turn to practice. Imagine you are meeting someone new. Say your introduction out loud. For example:

"Hello. I'm [Your Name]. Nice to meet you."

3. Choosing Your Words: Formal vs. Informal Dialogues

The words you choose can change the feeling of the conversation. Let's look at two short dialogues to see the difference.

Everyday Conversations

This document, 'Everyday Conversations' from the U.S. Department of State, has excellent examples. Please read the first two dialogues to see formal and informal greetings in context.

Please read 'Dialogue 1-1: Formal Greetings' on page 3 and 'Dialogue 1-2: Informal Greetings and Farewells' on page 5. Also, look at the 'LANGUAGE NOTES' for each dialogue, which explain the phrases used.

As you saw, the formal conversation uses "Good morning" and "It's a pleasure to meet you." The informal one uses "Hi," "How's it going?," and "See you later." Choosing the right level of formality is an important skill you'll develop with practice.

Test your understanding!

Imagine two situations:

  1. You are at a business conference and meet the main speaker.
  2. You see a friend at the supermarket.

Which greeting would you use for each situation? Choose from:
A) "Hi! How's it going?"
B) "Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Show answer
  1. Meeting the speaker (formal situation): You would use B) "Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to meet you."
  2. Seeing a friend (informal situation): You would use A) "Hi! How's it going?"

Lesson Summary

Fantastic work today! You've learned the essential building blocks for starting a conversation in English.

Here are the key takeaways:

  • Greetings can be formal (Good morning) or informal (Hi, Hello).
  • Introductions are simple: use My name is... or I'm....
  • A polite response to an introduction is Nice to meet you.
  • Farewells also have formal (Goodbye) and informal (Bye, See you later) versions.
  • The situation (e.g., work or with friends) determines whether you should use formal or informal language.

Preview of the Next Lesson

You can now greet someone and introduce yourself. But how do you ask for their name? In our next lesson, we will focus on asking the question "What is your name?" to complete your first full conversational exchange. See you then