Reference · module 1
Hello and goodbye
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Hello
Greet anybody, at any hour, without thinking about it.
- Hello works everywhere and at every hour. In a shop, at work, to a stranger or to a friend, it is never wrong.
- Good morning until about noon, good afternoon until about six, good evening after that. Good night is only for leaving, never for arriving.
- Hi and bye are the short, friendly pair. Use them with people you know, and Hello and Goodbye with people you do not.
The mistake you are about to make
Good night!
Good evening!
Many languages have a night greeting that works on arrival. English does not: good night is only ever a goodbye, never a hello.
I am, you are
Say who you are and ask who somebody else is.
- English has one verb where German has one too, and it changes shape three times: I am, you are, he is. Everything else is one of those three.
- In speech they almost always shrink: I'm, you're, he's, she's, it's, we're, they're. Writing them out in full sounds slow and deliberate.
- To ask, put the verb first: Are you Anna? Is he English? Nothing else moves, and no extra word is needed.
The mistake you are about to make
I student.
I'm a student.
Plenty of languages drop the verb "to be" in the present — I student, he tired. English never does: every sentence needs a verb in it.
How are you?
Ask how somebody is and answer without hesitating.
- How are you? is a greeting more than a question. The expected answer is short: Fine, thanks. And you?
- In Britain and America a long, honest answer surprises people. Good, thanks or Not bad is enough, and then you ask back.
- Thank you and thanks are the same thing at different speeds. Thanks is shorter and friendlier; thank you is a little more careful.
The mistake you are about to make
How are you? — Normal.
How are you? — Fine, thanks.
Normal is a false friend in a lot of languages, where it simply means fine. In English it answers a different question — whether something is unusual.
Nice to meet you
Introduce yourself and somebody else.
- My name is Anna, or simply I'm Anna. Both are correct, and the second is what you will hear far more often.
- To introduce somebody else: This is Peter. English uses this for a person here, which sounds strange in most other languages and is completely normal here.
- The reply is Nice to meet you, and the answer to that is Nice to meet you too. The exchange is fixed and nobody varies it.
The mistake you are about to make
It is Peter.
This is Peter.
Introducing somebody with "it" is a straight translation of what many languages say. In English it sounds like you are pointing at an object.
Where are you from?
Say where you are from and where you live.
- I'm from Germany. I live in Berlin. from for where you started, in for where you are now — two prepositions doing two different jobs.
- Countries and nationalities are different words: Germany and German, Spain and Spanish, Poland and Polish. Both are always written with a capital letter.
- The nationality works as an adjective and as a noun: I'm German, and he's a German. The article marks which one you mean.
The mistake you are about to make
I am russian.
I'm Russian.
Most languages write nationalities in lowercase. English capitalises every one of them, along with the languages and the countries behind them.