How to Say ‘How are you?’ in German
Wie geht's Ihnen?
VEE gayts EE-nen
[VEE gayts EE-nen]
💬 Usage Tip: geht's is a spoken shortening of geht es, and Ihnen is the polite "you." With friends it becomes Wie geht's dir?.
🇩🇪 In Germany: Germans tend to treat this as a real question, so you may get an honest answer. Save it for neighbours you have a moment to chat with, not a quick nod in passing.
Phrase Breakdown
Wie
[VEE]
how
In what way or manner.
Wie geht es dir?
How are you?
geht's
[gayts]
is it going
Short for 'geht es'; used in asking how someone is doing.
Wie geht's Ihnen heute?
How are you today?
Ihnen
[EE-nen]
you (formal, dative)
The formal 'you' in the dative case, used in polite professional situations.
Darf ich Ihnen eine Frage zur Kultur im Unternehmen stellen?
May I ask you a question about the culture in the company?
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