Thread: Hello, hi, good afternoon...

qza, спасибо
Demonic_Duck, thank you very much for your exhaustive explanation

If you stop and talk to someone, at least in my experience, you rarely say good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. Those are more like if you are passing someone and you smile and make eye contact, you say "morning" and keep walking by. If you are stopping to talk to someone, you would usually say "hi/hello, how are you?" instead, but it's up to personal preference. You can say "hi" in either situation, though. I'd also say that "good morning" is much more common than "good afternoon" and "good evening;" I often say "good morning" in the morning, but I literally never say "good afternoon" or "good evening." Just my two cents. This seems like it can vary greatly between English-speaking regions, but if you're in New Jersey/New York, this is generally how it's done.