(c) In southern Germany and Austria Grüß Gott! is frequently employed, as is Servus!
(lit. ‘your servant’), which can also mean ‘cheerio’ (see also 62.1 on saying goodbye).
In Switzerland and the very south of Germany Grüß Sie! and Grüzi! are standard
greetings when talking to people with whom one is not on first-name terms.60.3 Conveying greetings
See also 85.3 (p. 308).
(a) If passing on personal greetings via a friend to a third person, either in speech or
writing, one of the following would be appropriate:Sag ihm einen schönen Gruß von mir.
Give him my best wishes.Einen schönen Gruß an deine Schwester.
Give your sister my best wishes.Grüß deinen Vater (von mir)!
Say hello to your father (for me).Grüß mir deine Mutter!
Say hello to your mother for me. See 19.2 (p. 26) for this dative usage.
Bestell Raimund viele Grüße von mir.
Give Raimund my best regards.The above can also be used in the Sie form for less informal occasions:Bitte grüßen Sie Ihre Kollegin (vielmals) von mir!
Please send your colleague my (very) best regards.Viele Grüße an Ihren Mann.
Kind regards to your husband.In very formal usage the following might occur:Bitte richten Sie ihm meine besten Wünsche aus.
Please convey my best wishes to him. See 12.3 (p. 17) for word order with noun and pronoun objects.
(b) If passing on someone else’s greetings, use the following:
Manfred lässt grüßen/lässt euch schön grüßen.
Manfred sends his regards/sends you his best regards.Ich soll Sie von Herrn Auer grüßen./Ich soll Grüße von Herrn Auer
bestellen.
Herr Auer says to send you his best wishes.See 35.1 (p. 74) for the use of these modal verbs.
60.4 Responding to requests to pass on greetings
The greetings in 60.2 can simply be returned in the same form. One of the following
would be an appropriate response to 60.3a:60
Greeting