When you first greet someone in English you can say ‘hello’ or you could spice up your greeting with a number of other ways of saying ‘hi.’ This post is all about different ways you can say ‘hello’ in English.

To start let’s look at one of my favorite ways for saying ‘hello,’ which was made famous by a cartoon carter from my childhood “Fat Albert.”

Now, if you think you can pull off a “hey, hey, hey” like Fat Albert I say go right ahead, but if you are looking for something a little more tame, take a look at some of the different options for say ‘hello’ below.

“Hey”

Use “hey” with people that you know well. This is a familiar term and though not rude to use with strangers, if you say “hey” to someone you don’t know they might wonder if they do know you.

“Yo”

This is a very short informal slang version of the word ‘hello’ that people started using in the 1980′s and 1990′s and it is still used today.

“What’s up?” or “Sup” or “Wazzup?”

Again these are casual terms, often used with people who already know one another. Although this is a question, it doesn’t need to be answered; it is just like saying ‘hello.’

“How’s it going?”

This is another question greeting that you can use instead of ‘hello’, and does not necessarily require an answer. People often just say this to one another as they pass by on the street and don’t wait for an answer from the person they say it to. But if you stop to talk, it would be nice to give an answer to this question with something like: “good” or “fine.”

“Greetings” or “Greetings and salutations”

Here is a very formal way of saying ‘hello.’ People use this in formal situations, but sometimes they also use it informally, just to be funny.

“Well hello!” or “Why hello there”

These are expression you can use to say ‘hello,’ when you are surprised to see someone, or if you haven’t seen them in a long time. Alternatively, sometimes men use these greeting when they say ‘hello’ to a beautiful woman, particularly someone they find very attractive.

“Howdy” or “Howdy partner”

This is a way of saying ‘hello’ that is associated with cowboys. It is perfectly fine to use in causal company as a substitute for ‘hello’ for non-cowboys too.

“Look what the cat dragged in!”

This is a really fun way to say ‘hello’ to someone that you haven’t seen in a long while. If you use this expression to say hello to a native English speaker (who you haven’t seen in a long while) I am sure she/he will be quite impressed. This greeting is a bit of a joke that is referring to a person like a dead mouse or some piece of trash that a cat has found outside and carried inside. It is a strange expression, but trust me, people do say this.

“Long time no see.”

This is another way of saying ‘hello’ to someone you haven’t seen in a long time. You might be more comfortable using this greeting instead of  “look what the cat dragged in,” although they are both used in the same instances.

Later this week I will have another post for you about how to say ‘goodbye’ in English in a number of different ways .See you again soon.

Conditional sentences (sentences containing “if”) usually have two parts. One part is the result and the other part is the condition that the result depends on. To figure out which part of the sentence is which you just need to locate the word “if.” The condition of the sentence usually comes right after the word if. The result of this condition usually follows a comma (,) which is used to separate the condition from the result.

There are two common types of conditional sentences in English, either real conditionals or unreal conditionals. The difference between these two is simple, real conditionals refer to things that are true/fact or possible, whereas unreal conditionals refer to things that are unreal, hypothetical or not possible.

Here are some true conditionals:

If you study hard, you will get an A.

If I have extra money, I will buy a soda.

If John grows up to be rich, he will buy his parents a mansion.

In all these examples you can exchange the words ‘might’ and ‘may’ with the word will if the conditional result is less likely to happen.

Here are some unreal conditionals:

If I were rich, I would buy you a new car.

If children ruled the world, there would be ice cream for every meal.

If my sister were here, she would know what to do.

You will notice in these examples that the past tense is used when talking about the present or future. This may seem strange at firsts, but when you see an “if” sentence like this it should help you remember this is an unreal conditional.

Today I have a little American history lesson for you about something called the Pony Express. The Pony Express is piece of American history that most Americans learned about at some point in school.  It is also the subject of a number of movies about “the wild west” of the United States.

The Pony Express was a mail delivery service that took messages and letters from Missouri to California on horseback. (Even though the mail system was called the Pony Express, no ponies were ever used. Ponies are very small horses. Only large/normal sized horses were used in the Pony Express.) The reason this mail delivery service was called the Pony Express was because the mail was delivered very fast, which made it express.  It only took 10 days for mail to go from the beginning of the route in St. Joseph, Missouri to the route’s end in Sacramento, California.  I know that sounds like a long time now, but back in the 1860’s that was pretty fast, especially considering there were no trains that went all the way across the United States, so mail usually had to travel in horse drawn wagons.

So, how did this fast moving mail service work? There were two key components: the riders (men riding horses with bags of mail) and the stations (the different locations the riders went to in order to pick up and drop off mail, change horses, and rest). There were 184 different stations along the Pony Express. The stations and station keepers (those who worked just at the stations) were essential to the successful, timely delivery of the mail. The riders of the Pony Express were the heroes and legends of the Pony Express though.  There are many stories told about these brave and adventurous men, who rode through parts of the country with rough weather, difficult terrain, desolate landscape, and places where Native Americans were hostile to the riders. Riders on the Pony Express worked hard, riding as fast as they could for 75 miles (120 km) before stopping, and letting the next rider take over.  The riders changed their horses about every 10-12 miles (16-19 km) at stations. They rode a regular route, so there was little danger of getting lost, but there were a lot of other dangers of course. The riders even rode at night! The mail didn’t stop moving from morning until night until it reached its destination – that is how it went so quickly across the country after all.

Below is short video about the Pony Express, which you can watch to find out more about this interesting time in American history. If you watch the video you will also learn why the Pony Express lasted only 2 short years.