Meeting someone new in German begins with a set of friendly phrases that change with the time of day. A general "hello" is "hallo," while more specific greetings include "guten Morgen" (good morning), "guten Tag" (good day), "guten Abend" (good evening), and "gute Nacht" (good night). To take your leave, you can say the formal "auf Wiedersehen" or the casual "tschüss," and "bis später" means "see you later."
Politeness is built into everyday German. "Bitte" serves both as "please" and as a polite response in many situations, "danke" means "thank you," and "vielen Dank" emphasises greater gratitude. When someone thanks you, the appropriate reply is "bitte schön" (you're welcome). Simple confirmations are "ja" (yes) and "nein" (no), often paired with "danke" as in "Nein, danke."
To apologise or get attention, use "Entschuldigung" (excuse me / sorry), while "es tut mir leid" expresses a deeper "I'm sorry." When introducing yourself, "ich heiße …" means "my name is …," and "freut mich" is the standard way to say "nice to meet you." The informal question "wie geht es dir?" asks "how are you?," to which the typical reply is "danke, gut" (fine, thanks).