Stuff about Germany: Greetings

Germany seems to be very big on the idea of greeting people. Generally, whenever you enter a room that other people are in (and you do not live with them), you say some kind of greeting. Different regions have different traditional greetings, but most places will be fine with a "Hallo" or "Tag."

When greeting people individually, it's a good idea to greet them with the time of the day. "Guten Morgan" for morning (somewhere from 4AM until just about noon), "Guten Tage" for the daytime (noon until around about 6PM or dark, whichever comes first), and "Guten Abend" for evening (after around 6PM until somewhere after midnight). I have no idea what the greeting in the wee hours is.

Of course, you don't have to be really formal about it. A solid grunt will get you by most of the time. Or any other general acknowledgement of the other person's existence. And, if you want to greet a person, but not be quite so stiff, just shorten the "Guten" part to "'n." Thus, "'n Abend." Nobody seems to mind it.

And, just in case you find yourself in one of those places that greets strangely, a solid "Gruss Gott" will get you by most of the time.