“Good morning” in Chinese: how to say it and how to write it
Good morning
“Good morning” in Chinese is 早上好, zǎoshang hǎo. Literally it is “morning — good”: the word for “morning” plus the same 好 “good” you already know from 你好.
What the phrase is made of
- 早上zǎoshangmorning
- 好hǎogood, well
In 早上 the second syllable is light: shang is short and has no tone of its own. zǎo and hǎo are both third tone, low. The z is not an English “z”: it sounds like the “ds” in “kids”, so zǎo is close to “dzow”. The sh is like English “sh” with the tongue curled back a little. More about the words on the pages 早上 and 好.
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening
Greetings for the time of day are all built the same way: the time plus 好.
- 早上好zǎoshanghǎogood morning
- 上午好shàngwǔhǎogood morning (later, before noon)
- 下午好xiàwǔhǎogood afternoon
- 晚上好wǎnshanghǎogood evening
In real life these sound formal — at work, in a hotel, on the radio. People who know each other keep it simpler: in the morning a single word, , much like saying just “morning!” in English; the rest of the day, . In messages you will also see 早安 (zǎo’ān), “good morning” — soft and a little bookish.
“Morning” in Chinese sentences
- 我早上七点起床。wǒzǎoshangqīdiǎnqǐchuángI get up at seven in the morning
- 我每天早上跑步。wǒměitiānzǎoshangpǎobùI go running every morning
In a Chinese sentence the time comes before the action, not at the end as in English: “I morning seven o’clock get up”. How to tell the time and name the days of the week is explained in the article “Telling time in Chinese”.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “good morning” in Chinese?
“Good morning” in Chinese is 早上好, in pinyin zǎoshang hǎo.
How do you pronounce 早上好?
早上好 is read zǎoshang hǎo. The marks over the vowels are the tones: each syllable has its own melody, so listen to the recording on this page and repeat it.
How do you write “good morning” in Chinese characters?
早上好 is 3 characters. What each one means and how the phrase is put together is explained on this page.
What does 早上好 mean?
早上好 (zǎoshang hǎo) means “good morning”.
Your first phrases in five minutes
Greetings are the first topic of the course: each word comes up in a dialogue, you repeat it and hear right away whether you got it. Free during the beta.
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