Today we're going to review simple yet important words and phrases that are used in almost every single conversation. We're going to talk about 50 ways to start and end a conversation in English.  

Over the next few minutes we'll go over the most common greetings and goodbyes, along with when they're used appropriately. We'll go through some casual ways to begin and end a conversation, and some more formal ways.  You'll find that there are several that can be used in both casual and formal settings.  By the end of this lesson you'll be able to correctly work these words and phrases into your conversations today.  

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So, getting right into it: The first and most common word to say when meeting someone new, or someone you're familiar with is “hello”.  You cannot go wrong with “hello”, in a formal setting, with a friend, a family member, or a complete stranger. You can also say “hi” in both workplace and casual situations. Another very common, more casual greeting, is “hey”. This is not one I’d recommend starting a business email with, but is commonly used in less formal conversations.

You'll often hear people add the word “there” after all three of these, making them “hello there”, “hi there”, or “hey there”.  Adding “there” is typically done in more casual settings and  spoken conversations. It's not as frequent in written English. Adding "there" is commonly used as a way to make formal conversations less formal.  Saying “hi there” just sounds a little more familiar and conversational than simply saying “hi”.

This pattern of adding words is one you've probably noticed with English; we tend to add extra words that don’t always completely change the meaning of what we're saying.  For example, saying “no way” instead of just “no”, or “take care now”, instead of just "take care". Keep watching as we go over how “take care” is used later in this video.  

There are also greetings you can use depending on the time of day.  It's common in both work place and casual settings to start a conversation with “good morning”. This is used in the morning, between waking up and noon, or 12pm. “Good afternoon” is used from noon to around 6pm, or “good evening” from 6pm on. You’ll notice it's not very common to use “good night” as a greeting. This is used mostly as a way of saying goodbye. 

It’s common to drop the “good” from “good morning” or “good afternoon”, making them simply “morning” and “afternoon”. Both of these shortened versions show a sense of familiarity between you and the person you’re greeting. I’d say that “afternoon” is not used very often, but is something you may hear.

When being introduced to someone for the first time in a formal or workplace setting, a polite thing to say is “it’s a pleasure to meet you”, or “I’m pleased to meet you”.  You’ll hear people drop “I’m” from this, making it simply “pleased to meet you”.

One could also say “it’s nice to meet you” or simply “nice to meet you”. These are all excellent ways of starting a conversation in a polite and friendly way.  

If you’re seeing someone you've already met, a common statement is “it’s great to see you again” this is often followed by the question “how are you?” or ”how have you been?”. All of these acknowledge that you indeed remember this person, and are interested in how they're doing, which can help initiate the conversation.

Once the greeting has been exchanged there are a few other common questions get the conversation flowing, like “how’s it going?”, You can also ask: “how are things?”, or “What’s new?”.

Before we get to the words used to say goodbye, it's useful to review some ways of politely ending a conversation.  If you feel that a discussion has run its course, or are running out of time, a common way of signalling your intent to end the discussion is to say “I have to get going” or “I have to go take care of…”, . You could also say: “I have to head out”, or “I must be going” or "I'm afraid I must get going".

In business or social conversations you can also politely imply an intent to end the conversation by saying “it was great to see you again”, or “I’m looking forward to seeing you again” or simply “it was nice talking”. If you’ve agreed that something at work is to be done, like meeting with a client, you can say, “I’ll follow up with you when…”, "I’ll reach out once…”.

Likewise, you'll know that someone is politely indicating that the conversation should end if you hear "I have to go", or “I have to take off”, “I gotta go”, “I gotta hit the road”. 

“Gotta” is a very common word used as a short form of “got to” or “have to”.   You may also hear “gotta go” or “we gotta go”. It's important to know that “gotta” is not grammatically correct, and is used mainly in spoken conversations.

Once a discussion has ended, and you're parting ways the most common word to use is “goodbye”. Like "hello", "goodbye" is safe to use in all discussions. You'll also hear the shortened versions, “bye”, “bub-bye”, “bye bye”, or “bye for now”. You could also say “take care”, or "take care now”. Again we’re just adding a word. You'll notice this is also done with “see you soon”, and “see you around”.

There’s the very casual “later”, or “take is easy". Or the rather formal “farewell” which is more common in written English. In business emails you'll also see "kind regards" or just "regards". Other common email sing-offs are “thank you”, “talk soon”, or “best wishes”.

At the end the you can say "good night".  During the day you may also hear "good day". Be careful when using this however, as "good day", when said with a firm tone of voice, can sound too stern or harsh. As with most greetings and goodbyes, the tone of your voice, or even facial expressions, communicate your feelings or intent.

So there you have it: 50 common ways of starting and ending English conversations. If you can think of any we have missed, or find some of these helpful, let us know in the comments below.

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Until next time, keep learning and we will talk soon.