How Are You?
When asking how someone is doing, you first have to decide whether you're on a casual or formal basis with the person. Usually, if you're using someone's first name, you have a casual or informal relationship. If you're using a title and last name, you have a formal relationship.
Casual: “How are you?” “Wie geht's, Andreas?” (VEE GATES) Formal: “How are you?” “Wie geht es Ihnen, Herr Braun?”(VEE GATE ESS EE-nen)
The word geht's is actually a contraction of two words: geht es. Geht es can be used in place of the contraction. One response to this question is “Es geht mir gut” (ESS GATE MEER GOOT): “It's going well.”
Exercise 3-1
Fill in the blank with the appropriate form of asking how someone is in the formal or casual form: Wie geht es Ihnen? or Wie geht's?
___, Professor Braun?
___, Angelika?
___, Hans?
___, Frau Keller?
___, Herr Doktor?
