This is a list of the most important phrases for opening emails, including both opening greetings and opening lines, for a wide range of kinds of emails and levels of formality. Each section is organised in approximate order of usefulness, with the most useful phrases of all underlined.
A big list of useful phrases for the whole of emails and intensive practice are available in the e-book Teaching Emailing: Interactive Classroom Activities.
This article is part of a series on useful emailing phrases:
- The 100 most useful phrases for starting emails
- The 100 most useful emailing phrases
- The 100 most useful phrases for ending emails
- 100 common mistakes with starting and ending emails
- Differences between British and American emails
- Cultural differences in emailing
Useful email opening greetings
Useful opening greetings to one person
- Dear Mr/ Ms/ Dr/ Professor + family name (= Dear Mr./ Ms./ Dr./ Prof. + family name)
- Dear + first name
- Hi + first name
- Dear Sir or Madam
- Dear Sir/ Madam
- Hello again
- Hi
- first name
- (nothing)
Useful opening greetings to more than one person
- Dear all
- Hi everyone
- To: All faculty members/ To: New recruits/ To: All members of…/ To: (All)…
- Hi guys
- Hi
- Hi guys and gals
Useful email opening lines
Opening lines mentioning the last contact between you
- Thank you for your email (yesterday/ of 12 May/…) (about…)
- Thanks for your email (this morning/ earlier/ yesterday/ on Monday/ last week/…)
- Thanks for your quick reply.
- Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.
- Thanks for your phone call this morning/ your interest in…/ your help with…/ your hospitality in…/ your questions about…/…
- Thanks for sending me…/ for contacting me (about…)/ for attending…/ for asking us about…/ for informing us about…/ for giving us feedback (on….)/ for inviting me to…/ for…
- It was great to see you (again)/ It was so nice to see you (again) (on Monday/ on…/ last…)
- (I) just read your email about…
- (I) just got your message about…
- Sorry for my late reply/ Sorry it took me so long to get back to you/ Sorry for the delay in replying/ Sorry not to reply sooner (but I had to…/ but…).
- Sorry it’s been so long since I was last in touch/ since my last email/ since….
- It was a pleasure to meet you/ It was my great pleasure to meet you last week/ last…/ on...
- Thank you for finding the time to meet me/ to attend…/ to help with…/ to…
- Sorry I couldn’t make the meeting on Friday/ your presentation/…
- Sorry I missed…
- It was great to hear from you.
- Long time no see!
- Thank you for your talk/ presentation/ report/…
- Thanks for writing to inform me about…
- Thanks again for…
- Thanks a lot for…
- Thanks a million for…
- Thanks so much for…
- With reference to your email of…
- It was such a nice surprise to see your email in my inbox this morning.
- It was so nice to get your email yesterday.
- Was so thrilled to get your mail.
- Was lovely to see you again last week.
- Wow, that was quick!
- I just got your request for…
- Cheers for…
- I was so excited to see your email in my inbox this morning (!)
- I can’t believe it’s already… since we (last)…
- I don’t know if you remember me, but we met/ talked/ worked together/ were both at/ …
Opening lines with the subject of the email/ reason for writing
- I’m writing to you about your latest model/ about the meeting next week/ about your presentation yesterday/ about…
- I am writing to you in connection with/ with regards to/ regarding/ concerning…
- I’m writing (in order) to ask/ to enquire/ to confirm/ to check/ to inform you/ to follow up on/ to let you know/ to tell you/ to thank you/ to invite you to/ to update you on/ to announce that/ …
- I’m writing (to you) because I have just found out that…/ because I thought you’d like to know that…/ because I need…/ because…
- (This is) just a quick note to say (that)…
- Just a few comments on/ an update on/ some (more) info on/ a word or two on…
- Sorry to write out of the blue, but…
- Sorry to write again so quickly, but…/ Sorry to bother you again so soon, but…
- Sorry, in my last email I forgot to…
- As promised, I’m writing to send you/ to…
- As we discussed, I’m sending you…
- … suggested that I write to you about…
- I don’t have time to reply in detail at the moment, but…
- I have to… in a minute but I thought I’d better let you know…
- I was asked by… to write to you about…
- I am writing to you on behalf of…
- Re:…
- (Writing) about…
- Regarding…
- Sorry for the short notice, but…
- (I have a terrible feeling that) this is probably (already) too late, but…
- This really is the last email today (about…), I promise!
- Sorry, (this is) (yet) another email about…
- There is no rush on this, but…
- I’m not sure if this is the right email address, but…
- I’m not sure if you are the right person to ask, but…
- I know this is a particularly busy time of year, but…
- I know this is rather bad timing, but…
- I (think I) wrote to the wrong address before, so…
- I’m forwarding an email/ message/ article/ report/… from…
- As you can imagine, this email is about…
- As you have probably guessed, I’m writing about…
- I’m writing about a… that you might be able to help with.
- I know this is asking a bit much, but…
- I’m getting ahead of myself a bit with this, but…
Social opening lines/ Friendly opening lines
- (I) hope you had a good weekend/ a good evening/ a good trip (to...)/ a good time/ a good break/ a good…
- How’s it going?/ How are things?/ How’s life?/ How are you doing?
- How was your weekend/ your trip/ your presentation/ your meeting with/ …?
- I hope you (and your family) are (all) well.
- I hope that you are enjoying…
- I hope that you weren’t too affected by the recent…
- Hope you have recovered from…
- I just heard about your company’s…/ your town’s…/ your team’s…/…
- Just read about the big storm/ the story about/…
- I heard that/ I read that/ I guess that … over there. (I hope that you are all okay.)
- I was sorry to hear about…
- Congratulations on…
- Been busy?
- Hope you haven’t been too busy.
- I hope this email finds you well.
- How are you?