Appropriate Greeting

Great question! Very commonly, people say "Grüezi: It's a polite greeting used in the lower areas like Zürich, it varies by region for pronunciation. I would listen to it on Google translate before trying it. Good luck!

In Schweizerdeutsch (Swiss German), say “Grüezi” (groo-tze). Roll the “r” a bit.

Or for Mornings, say “Guete Morge” (goo-tah morga), for good morning.

For late afternoon and in the Evening, it’s “Guete Aabig” (goo-tah ah-bik).

Thanks for the question and the answers. We're going on the RS 12-day tour of Switzerland next year. As someone who enjoys studying languages, I've started learning some German using Babbel. Of course, Babbel doesn't teach Swiss German (let alone the variations of Swiss German), so it's nice to know at least a greeting in the local vernacular.

What Swiss people most appreciate, especially in the early morning, is visitors yodeling to them (just joking of course — have a great trip!).

Good for you! Seriously studying German won't help you much when Swiss Germans are speaking with each other, unless they know they need to speak 'High German' to include someone from outside their region / city / area. I lived in the Alps for a year working in a ski resort before traveling to Germany, where people found my accent and usage of different words hilarious!

The wooden carved sign outside my husband’s cousin’s house near Zug says “Grüezi”.

Up in the Swiss mountains of the Berber Oberland they end in a soft “a” so we say “Groot-sah” for hello “Morg-ah” for good morning and when leaving the goodbye up here is usually “Chow” or “choos”. Thank you is “Merci” & please is “Bitt-eh”- just like any language they have 10 other acceptable ways to say all this, but learning all of them can be a bit overwhelming!

There are many variations of Swiss German. In places like Zürich and Luzern you will hear Grüezi as a polite way of saying hello. You can of course use Grüezi yourself throughout the German-speaking part of Switzerland, but in Bernese German (Bärndütsch - generally spoken in the canton of Bern), people say Grüessech.

When greeting more than one person, you can say Grüessech mitenand (“hello everyone”). This is how I would greet two or more hikers on the trail, for example.

Informal used to be Hoi, but now more often is Hallo or even Hello. I wouldn’t use this with people I don’t know, but my (Swiss) husband often does, so I guess it’s okay. :-)

You don’t need to use these variations yourself, just putting it out there so you can understand if someone greets you this way.