How to say good morning (and evening, afternoon) in Chinese

Here are several answers to the question ‘How to say good morning in Chinese’. Click here for more greetings in Chinese.

Good morning in Chinese is like in English

In English or other European languages, “Good morning!” is often said as a whole but sometimes also simply as “Morning!”. Chinese is no different.

The full phrase is:

• 早上好
• zǎo shàng hǎo

But you can also say:

• 早
• zǎo

A third variation is

• 早安
• ​zǎo ān

The “安ān” here stands for ‘good’, even though in other contexts (such as 安静Ānjìng) it means calms.

The most formal way is “早上好”, whereas the most colloquial way is for sure a loud “早!”.

You can say this until 10:00 (10 a.m.), this is also different than in some European countries, where there’s no 上午shàngwǔ concept (forenoon), and you could just use 早上好 until 11:59 in the morning.

In text messaging, you can also send 猫宁Māo níng because it sounds like “Morning” in English. Young people will understand this.

Good evening and good afternoon

In addition to greeting good morning, there’s:

• 上午好 shàngwǔ hǎo (Good forenoon)
• 下午好 xiàwǔ hǎo or 午安 wǔ ān (Good afternoon)
• 傍晚好 bàngwǎn hǎo (Good evening)
• 晚上好  wǎnshàng hǎo (Good night)

Try it! Good luck!