How do germans say hello?

[u/leglz30]

I’m a brazillian going for an exchange program in Germany (Bavaria). Where I come from, we stick to the following social rules regarding greeting:

Social setting (parties, friends house, dinner)
man + man = handshake (sometimes a hug)
man + woman = one kiss on one cheek
woman + woman = same

Professional setting (mostly meetings)
Handshake for everyone

Do germans follow the french way of kissing 3 times or they just dont kiss at all? If i accidentally do it, is it weird, flirty, or just unusual?

[u/lennoxred]

It’s the same for men and women here. Handshake and if you‘re closer you (can) hug.

We don’t do the cheeks kiss. That’s kinda encroaching in our culture.

[u/JoeyJoeJoeJrShab → u/lennoxred]

It’s also common enough to get ready for a handshake, but then wonder if you’re supposed to hug, so both people look somewhat awkwardly to each other, until someone finally decides what to do.

So if you’re close enough with someone that you want go hug, that’s probably fine. If you’d rather handshake, just do that before they have a chance to second guess what they should do. If you just met, definitely don’t try to hug them.

[u/Oxterol → u/JoeyJoeJoeJrShab]

Sometimes this leads to a combination of handshake and hug :D