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How To Say ‘Hello’ In Dutch + Other Useful Dutch Greetings

Wondering how to say ‘hello’ in Dutch? 

This post covers how to greet people in Dutch and teaches you some essential phrases including ‘hello’, ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’. 

It also covers some other greeting etiquette such as handshakes and gestures.

Hopefully you’ll leave this page knowing some essential Dutch greetings.

How Do You Say ‘Hello’ In Dutch?

If you want to say ‘hello’ to someone in Dutch then you can do so with the following phrases.

Click on the Dutch word to hear the pronunciation by a native speaker.

The greeting ‘hallo’ can be used in almost all settings. This is the universal and most common way to say ‘hello’ in Dutch.

If you want to be a bit more informal or casual then you can say ‘hoi’ which means ‘hi’. This greeting is usually used with family, friends and in casual situations.

To be more formal, you should use the greeting ‘goedendag’ which means ‘good day’.

How To Say Other Greetings In Dutch e.g. ‘Good Morning’

You may want to use some other greetings in Dutch such as ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’. Check out these other Dutch greetings below:

How To Say ‘Good Morning’ In Dutch

To say ‘good morning’ in Dutch, you can say:

You would usually use this greeting in the morning time only, up until around 12pm. It is a bit more formal than saying ‘hallo’ so you can use this in shops, restaurants, museums etc.

This phrase is sometimes shortened to just ‘morgen’.

How To Say ‘Good Afternoon’ In Dutch

To say ‘good afternoon’ in Dutch, you can say:

This greeting is used in the second part of the day from 12pm until 6pm. It is a bit more formal than saying ‘hallo’ so you can use this in shops, restaurants, museums etc.

Sometimes you’ll hear this phrase abbreviated to just ‘middag’.

How To Say ‘Good Evening’ In Dutch

To say ‘good evening’ in Dutch, you can say:

You can use this phrase in the evening from 6pm up until night time. It is a bit more formal than saying ‘hallo’ so you can use this in shops, restaurants, museums etc.

This phrase is not usually shortened.

How To Say ‘Good Night’ In Dutch

To say ‘good night’ in Dutch, you can say:

This phrase can be used to say ‘goodbye’ or to go to bed. It is also used as a greeting at night time so if you meet with someone after midnight but before 6am, then use this to greet them.

How Do You Greet Someone In Dutch?

In formal situations, Dutch people will usually greet each other by shaking hands. 

In more informal situations, such as with friends and family, it’s more common to kiss each other on both cheeks, usually 3 times. You will usually do this again when you say goodbye.


Thanks for reading this post on how to greet someone in Dutch. Hopefully you now know how to say ‘hello’ in Dutch and also how to say ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’ in Dutch.

If you haven’t already then make sure to learn the numbers in Dutch. Everyone should know this essential vocabulary. 

You can find out more about the Dutch language here.

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