Now that you know the letters, here are your first real words for talking to people: greetings and polite words. Before you learn a single grammar rule, these phrases alone let you open a door, walk into a shop, thank someone, and say goodbye politely. They are the twenty most important survival words in Germany.
The key idea in this lesson — the one that confuses learners the most — is that a German greeting depends on the time of day. In many languages you have one all-purpose greeting you can use morning, evening, or night. German forces you to choose the greeting by the clock: Guten Morgen in the morning (until roughly 10–11 a.m.), Guten Tag during the day, Guten Abend in the evening, and Gute Nacht only before sleeping or when saying goodbye at night. Careful: Gute Nacht is not a greeting you use when you meet someone at night — it is always a farewell, exactly like "good night" before bed.
The second idea is the difference between a formal and a friendly greeting. With strangers, older people, officials, and in formal places, you use Guten Tag when you meet and Auf Wiedersehen when you leave. With friends, family, and young people you use Hallo to meet and Tschüss to leave. This distinction connects later to the difference between du (informal "you") and Sie (formal "you") that you will learn in the next lesson, but for now it is enough to know: with someone you do not know well, the safe choice is Guten Tag and Auf Wiedersehen.
The polite words are three little magic words that make people like you instantly: bitte (please — it also means "here you go" and "you're welcome", depending on context), danke (thank you), and Entschuldigung (excuse me / sorry / pardon me, to get attention or apologise). Germans use these words a great deal — more than the equivalents are used in many other languages — and leaving out "bitte" or "danke" comes across as rude.
Finally, the most common social question: Wie geht's? (How are you?) in its friendly form, or Wie geht es Ihnen? in its formal form. The usual reply is simple: Gut, danke! (Fine, thanks) or Es geht (So-so). The most common beginner mistake is mixing up the greeting times — like saying Guten Morgen in the evening — or using Gute Nacht as a greeting when meeting someone. Remember the golden rule: tie the greeting to the clock, and remember that Nacht is always a farewell.