Good Morning in Spanish
Good morning in Spanish is buenos días (BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs).
Buenos días BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs Say it from the time you wake up until about noon (in Spain, until lunch). After that, switch to buenas tardes.
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Scan with your phone camera All the ways to say good morning in Spanish
The first three come straight from lesson 1 of our Spanish course. Tap the speaker to hear each one.
| Phrase | Listen | Meaning | When to use it | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buenos días BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs | Good morning | Any morning greeting, to anyone, from waking up until about noon | Neutral | |
 Buenas tardes BWEH-nahs TAHR-dehs | Good afternoon | From about noon, or after lunch, until it gets dark | Neutral | |
 Buenas noches BWEH-nahs NOH-chehs | Good evening / good night | After dark: when you arrive, when you leave and when you go to bed | Neutral | |
| Buen día bwehn DEE-ah | Good morning | The usual morning greeting in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and heard across Latin America. Rare in Spain | Neutral | |
| Buenas BWEH-nahs | Hi! (short for buenos días and the others) | Casual, at any time of day: friends, neighbors, shops. Common in Spain and parts of Latin America | Informal | |
| Buenos días a todos BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs ah TOH-dohs | Good morning, everyone | Walking into a class, a meeting or a room full of people | Neutral | |
| ¿Cómo amaneciste? KOH-moh ah-mah-neh-SEES-teh | How did you wake up? (how are you this morning?) | A warm morning question to family and friends in Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Uruguay and other parts of Latin America | Informal | |
 Que tengas un buen día keh TEHN-gahs oon bwehn DEE-ah | Have a nice day | Saying goodbye in the morning or during the day, to someone you call tú (polite: que tenga un buen día) | Informal |
Buenos días, buenas tardes or buenas noches?
Spanish splits the day into three greetings, and there is no exact clock time for any of them. People go by meals and daylight:
- Buenos días: from the time you get up until around noon. In Spain, where lunch is late, many people say it until they have eaten, often until 2 p.m.
- Buenas tardes: from noon or lunch until it gets dark. In winter that can be 6 p.m.; in summer, 9 p.m.
- Buenas noches: once it is dark. Unlike English, it works both as a greeting ("good evening") and as a goodbye at bedtime ("good night").
If you are not sure which one fits, the short buenas works at any time of day in many countries, as long as the situation is casual.
Notice buenos días but buenas tardes and buenas noches: día is masculine even though it ends in -a, while tarde and noche are feminine.
Spain and Latin America
Buenos días is understood and used everywhere. A few things change from country to country:
- Buen día, in the singular, is the everyday morning greeting in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and many people use it in other Latin American countries too. In Spain people almost always say buenos días.
- ¿Cómo amaneciste? (literally "how did you wake up?") is a friendly way to ask how someone slept in Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Uruguay, among other places. It is not a usual greeting in Spain.
- Buenas on its own is colloquial. It is common in Spain, around the Río de la Plata and in parts of the Andes and Central America: what you might say walking into a small shop or passing a neighbor.
How to reply
Answer buenos días with buenos días, and often a question: "Buenos días, ¿cómo está?" (polite) If someone wishes you a good day (que tengas un buen día), say gracias, igualmente: "thanks, you too".
To be polite with someone you don't know, add señor or señora: "Buenos días, señora". The greeting itself is the same in formal and informal Spanish.
Pronunciation tips for English speakers
- Buenos starts with a soft "bw" sound: BWEH-nohs, not "BOO-eh-nos" and not "BWAY-nos". The e is short, as in "bet".
- Días has two syllables, DEE-ahs, with the stress on DEE. The written accent on í tells you exactly that.
- Say the final s of both words. "Buenos día" or "bueno días" are common learner slips.
- In buenas noches, ch sounds like the ch in "church".
Mañana: morning or tomorrow?
Morning words trip up a lot of learners, because mañana (mah-NYAH-nah; ñ sounds like the ny in "canyon") has two meanings:
- la mañana = the morning; por la mañana = in the morning
- mañana (no article) = tomorrow; hasta mañana = see you tomorrow
- mañana por la mañana = tomorrow morning
"Good morning" itself never uses mañana: it is always buenos días.
Example sentences with audio
Course sentences come first, then a few more for real life.
- ¡Que tengas un buen día, John! Have a nice day, John!
- Desayuno por la mañana. I eat breakfast in the morning.
- Buenos días, amigo mío. Good morning, my friend.
- Buenos días, señora López. ¿Cómo está usted? Good morning, Mrs. López. How are you?
- Buenas, ¿qué tal? Hi, how's it going?
- Buen día, ¿cómo estás? Morning! How are you?
- Buenos días, mi amor. Good morning, my love.
- Gracias, igualmente. Thanks, you too.
- Buenas noches, hasta mañana. Good night, see you tomorrow.
Quick quiz
Five questions from the words on this page.
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Questions people ask
Is it buenos días or buen día?
Both are correct. Buenos días is the standard everywhere; buen día is the everyday form in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and is heard across Latin America. If you learn one, learn buenos días.
Is buenos días formal or informal?
Neither: it fits every situation, from your boss to your best friend. Add señor or señora to make it more formal, or use buenas to make it more casual.
When do you stop saying buenos días?
Around noon, or after lunch. In Spain that can be 2 p.m.; in most of Latin America people switch to buenas tardes at about noon.
Why is buenos días plural?
Nobody knows for sure. The Real Academia Española suggests two ideas: the plural may copy other courtesy words that are always plural, like gracias and saludos, or it may be what is left of a longer wish about the days ahead. Either way, learn it as one unit.
How do you say "good morning, my love" in Spanish?
Buenos días, mi amor. For more ways to say it to someone you love, see I love you in Spanish.
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