Good Morning/Good Night in other languages

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Since you said friends and loved ones, I would never use the formal versions of the Japanese greetings Giles mentioned below, and rarely his informal versions.

For morning greeting, I’d either say おは (oha) [ohayo shortened], よー！(yo!) [really hey! or what’s up!], or less frequently おっす (ossu…but without aspirating the u at the end). You can even say ヤーホー! (yaho!) but be careful as this is typically used by young girls.

There are many ways friends and family members convey good night, or take care, or see ya. For ‘until tomorrow’ which is また明日 (mata ashita), I would simply say 明日 (ashita) [pronounced: a-shta. The ‘I’ is silent] For ‘see ya’, or ‘talk to you soon’ I would say either またね (mata ne), またなー (mata naa), じゃーね (jyaa ne), or じゃーなー (jyaa naa), sometimes simply じゃ (jya), or even それじゃ (sorejya).

じゃーまたね (jyaa mata ne) pushes the formality a bit too much for me, especially with close friends.

Saying おやすみ (oyasumi), and definitely おやすみなさい ‎(oyasumi nasai), feels like I am saying “I’m going to bed now”, which may not be what you want to convey. In fact, it has been a very long time since I have heard anyone in real life say the full おやすみなさい ‎(oyasumi nasai), although I am sure many still do.

22

Maori: Kia Ora for “Good Morning”. Ka Kite Ano for “See You Again”.

23

In Waali, which is spoken in northwestern Ghana,
Good morning - Ansomaa ! - lit. It is well
Good night - Ke jiang song - lit. may you lie down well

In French, it’s generally bonsoir if you are meeting someone in the evening, and bonne nuit to wish someone a good night’s sleep.

In the morning, I don’t recall ever hearing bon matin, just bonjour.

24

Another very informal way to say ‘talk to you soon’ in Japanese, especially when texting or speaking on the phone is : よろしく (yoroshiku) [pronounced “yo-ro-shku”…the ‘I’ is silent], which is kind of like “Thanks, see ya.” Although yoroshiku has become kind of a catch-all to mean a number of things depending on context, saying it, especially when texting or speaking on the phone conveys ‘this is the end of our pleasant conversation.’

25

Swedish.

Good morning - God morgon
Good night - God natt
Sleep well - Sov gott

26

But they look at you funny if you say everything before noonish… in the actual morning, would be pronounced more like g’mog.

27

I bet I’m not the only one following this thread just to see how many obscure languages we Dopers know.
So far, there’s: Maori, Waali, Fulfide.

And Welsh. (not so obscure, but I’m surprised to see that it actually has short, one-syllable words :slight_smile: )

28

Bambara:

I ni ce (ee nee chay) is good morning.
I ni wula is good evening.

29

Perfectly correct. My heinous typing skills have been outed once again. I honestly need to either cut my fingernails or practice typing. :o

30

I was amazed to find out (as I went to check so no one would criticise my spelling) that for such a precise language, where there is a significant movement against people spelling compound words as separate ones, god morgon/god natt and godmorgon/godnatt are accepted spellings.

31

Dutch:
Good morning: goeie morgen, or “morgen” (both colloquial)
Good night: goede nacht. (For some reason the more colloquial “goeie” doesn’t seem right at night to me.
Sleep well:slaap lekker
Afrikaans
Good morning: goeie more
Good night: goeie nag
Sleep well: lekker slaap
Yiddish
Good morning: a gutn morgn
Good night : Gute naght
Sleep well: shlohf’ gezunt

32

Filipino:
Good morning - Magandang umaga
Good night - Magandang gabi

Merry Christmas - Maligayang Pasko

33

One in German I remember is “Gut geschlafen.” Something like “have a good sleep.”

34

Actually, that’s “slept well” - often in the form of a question. You may be looking for “schlaf’ gut” sleep well.

35

Yes, schlaf gut sounds familiar now. It’s been awhile, and my German’s rusty.