how do you do

English

Alternative forms

• how-d'ye-do
• how-do-you-do

Phrase

how do you do?

1. (formal) a greeting used meeting somebody. Alternatives are pleased to meet you and nice to meet you. Often not actually meant as a question (depends on the region).

Related terms

• how are you doing (less formal)
• howdy (informal)

Translations

Phrase: how do you do

• Abkhaz: (to a woman) бышҧаҟоу (bəšpāq̇ou), (to a man) ушҧаҟоу (ušpāq̇ou), (to more than one person) шәышҧаҟақоу (š°əšpāq̇ākou)
• Arabic: تَشَرَّفْنَا‎ (tašarrafnā)
• Catalan: encantat m, encantada f, encantat de coneixe't
• Chinese:你好、您好

  Cantonese: 幸會, 幸会

  Mandarin: 幸會 (zh), 幸会 (zh) (xìnghuì), 初次見面, 初次见面 (chūcì jiànmiàn), 請多關照 (zh), 请多关照 (zh) (qǐng duō guānzhào), 您好 (zh) (nínhǎo)

• Czech: těší mě
• Dutch: hoe maakt u het
• Estonian: kuidas läheb
• Faroese: hvussu gongur
• Finnish: hyvää päivää (fi)
• French: enchanté (fr) m, enchantée (fr) f
• Galician: encantado m
• German: sehr erfreut, sehr angenehm, wie geht es dir (de)
• Greek: χαίρω πολύ (chaíro polý)

• Hiligaynon: kamusta
• Indonesian: apa kabar? (id)
• Italian: piacere di conoscerla m, f
• Japanese: 初めまして (ja) (はじめまして, hajimemashite), (very formal) 始めてお目にかかります (はじめておめにかかります, hajimete o-me ni kakarimasu)
• Korean: 안녕하십니다 (annyeong-hasimnida)
• Macedonian: мило ми е (milo mi e), драго ми е (drago mi e)
• Navajo: nizhónígo ałhééhosiilzįįd
• Norwegian: hyggelig å møte deg, hvordan har du det
• Persian: از آشنایی شما خوشوقتم‎ (az ashenaeiyeh shoma khoshvaghtam)
• Portuguese: muito prazer
• Romanian: mă bucur să te cunosc, e o plăcere să te cunosc
• Russian: о́чень прия́тно (óčenʹ prijátno), как дела́? (ru) (kak delá?), прия́тно познако́миться (prijátno poznakómitʹsja)
• Spanish: encantado (es) (said by a male), encantada (es) (said by a female), ¿cómo está usted?
• Tagalog: kumusta (tl)

Noun

how do you do (plural how do you dos)

1. (Britain, euphemistic) A difficult situation
   • 1993, Nick Park, Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers

     Well, this is a fine how do you do isn't it, Gromit?

   • 2010, Michael Sledge, The More I Owe You: A Novel, Counterpoint Press (ISBN 9781582435763), page 78

     On the winding road to Petropolis, they did not speak, not about modernism or the construction of houses or antique bird jails or fine how-do-you-dos.

   • 2013, Chris Raschka, Seriously, Norman!, Scholastic Inc. (ISBN 9780545388467), page 115

     "Vienna!" Mr. B. went on. "This is is a bit of a how-do-you-do, is it not?"