Dutch greetings: hello and goodbye
The safe all-purpose hello in Dutch is hallo, and the safe all-purpose goodbye is dag. Everything else — the time-of-day greetings, the casual hoi, the affectionate doei — is about matching the moment and the person. This page sorts them by time of day and by how formal they are, so you always know which one fits.
Hello: the core greetings
Pronunciation hints are rough English approximations. The tricky sound throughout is the Dutch g, written “kh” below — a soft throat-clearing sound explained in full in the guide to the Dutch g.
| Dutch | Sounds like | English / when to use |
|---|---|---|
| Hallo | hah-LOH | Hello — neutral, works with anyone, any time |
| Hoi | hoy | Hi — informal, friends, colleagues, people your age |
| Hey / Hé | hey | Hey — very casual, close friends |
| Dag | dakh | Hello or goodbye — polite, slightly formal, all ages |
| Goedendag | khoo-dun-DAKH | Good day — formal, shops, officials |
Greetings by time of day
Dutch splits the day into morning, afternoon and evening, each with its own greeting. These are a notch more polite than a bare hoi and are the natural choice when you walk into a shop, a waiting room, or an office.
| Dutch | Sounds like | English / when |
|---|---|---|
| Goedemorgen | khoo-duh-MOR-khun | Good morning — until about noon |
| Goedemiddag | khoo-duh-MID-dakh | Good afternoon — roughly noon to 6 pm |
| Goedenavond | khoo-dun-AH-vont | Good evening — from about 6 pm |
| Goedemorgen! (shortened) | MOR-khun | Just Morgen! — casual clipped version |
| Goeiemorgen | KHOO-yuh-mor-khun | Colloquial spelling you’ll hear constantly |
In speech the goede- part often softens to goeie- (KHOO-yuh), and people frequently drop it altogether: a cheerful Morgen! across the office is completely normal. Note that goedenacht (“good night”) is only said when going to bed, never as a greeting on arrival.
Goodbye: the ones natives actually use
Textbooks over-teach tot ziens. It isn’t wrong, but it is on the formal side; in daily life the Netherlands runs on doei and dag.
| Dutch | Sounds like | English / register |
|---|---|---|
| Dag | dakh | Bye — polite, neutral, safe everywhere |
| Doei | doo-ee | Bye — friendly, informal, extremely common |
| Doei doei | doo-ee doo-ee | Bye-bye — light, chatty, often on the phone |
| Tot ziens | tot ZEENS | Goodbye — formal; shops, officials, strangers |
| Tot zo | tot ZOH | See you shortly — back within the hour |
| Tot straks | tot STRAKS | See you later — later the same day |
| Tot morgen | tot MOR-khun | See you tomorrow |
| Tot volgende week | tot VOL-khun-duh vayk | See you next week |
| Fijne dag (nog) | FAY-nuh dakh nokh | Have a nice day — warm, common on parting |
| Prettige dag | PRET-tuh-khuh dakh | Have a good day — slightly more formal |
| Het beste | ut BES-tuh | All the best — parting for a longer while |
The tot… family (“until…”) is endlessly productive: slot in any time expression and you have a goodbye. A shopkeeper handing back your change will very often add fijne dag nog! — the polite reply is simply u ook! (“you too!”) or, informally, jij ook!
U or je? Getting the register right
Greetings themselves mostly don’t change for formality — hallo and dag are register-neutral — but what you attach to them does. “How are you?” is hoe gaat het met u? to someone you address formally and hoe gaat het met je? (or just hoe gaat het?) to everyone else. As a rule of thumb, pair goedemorgen/goedemiddag and tot ziens with the formal u for older strangers, officials and customers; pair hoi and doei with the informal je for peers, colleagues and friends. The Netherlands leans informal by default; the full system is set out in Dutch pronouns and in the introductions guide.
Belgian usage. In Flanders people lean formal a little longer, and the everyday hello you’ll hear is goeiedag or simply dag. Casual Flemish adds salut (also spelled salu, sah-LUU) for both “hi” and “bye” among friends, and ciao and tot seffens (“see you in a bit”) turn up where a Netherlander would say tot zo. Doei sounds distinctly Netherlandish to Flemish ears.
Handshakes, kisses and the physical greeting
Meeting someone for the first time in a formal or professional setting, you shake hands and say your name: Hallo, ik ben Anna or, more formally, Aangenaam (AHN-khuh-nahm, “pleased to meet you”). Among friends and family the greeting is three kisses on alternating cheeks — left, right, left — not two. This is between women, and between a woman and a man; two men almost always shake hands or, if close, do a quick hug or back-pat. The three-kiss custom is a Netherlands and Flanders thing and it catches many newcomers out; when in doubt, offer a hand and let the other person escalate. Since the pandemic, a plain wave with hoi has also become perfectly acceptable, especially at work.
Answering “how are you?”
Unlike the English “how are you”, which expects only “fine, you?”, the Dutch hoe gaat het? can invite a real, if brief, answer. Standard replies:
| Dutch | Sounds like | English |
|---|---|---|
| Goed, en met jou? | khoot, en met YOW | Good, and you? |
| Prima | PREE-mah | Great / fine |
| Het gaat | ut khaht | So-so (literally “it goes”) |
| Niet zo goed | neet zoh khoot | Not so good |
| Wel goed, druk | vel khoot, druk | Fine — busy |
Keep going: pair these with introducing yourself to get past hello, and use small talk for what comes after. For the sounds behind the hints above, work through the pronunciation guide.