Good morning in French: bonjour, bonsoir, bonne nuit

Good morning in French is bonjour [1]. French has no separate morning greeting in the dictionaries below, so this page sorts out the words for the rest of the day: bonsoir, bonne nuit, bonne journée and bonne soirée. For the all-purpose hello, see hello in French. For the exit lines, see goodbye in French.

How do you say good morning in French?

Say bonjour. The Académie française defines it as a politeness formula for greeting someone during the day [1]. That covers the morning and the afternoon, so there is no change of word at noon. The Office québécois de la langue française says that to greet someone, French usually uses bonjour or bonsoir depending on the time of day [3].

Neither source names an hour for the switch, so this page does not either. Choosing bonjour when you are unsure is a general observation, not a dictionary finding.

What is good day in French?

Good day in French is also bonjour, because it is the daytime greeting [1]. The Office separates it from bonne journée: bonjour is a greeting that mostly opens a conversation, while bonne journée is a wish that closes one [3]. If you want to say “have a good day” as you leave, say bonne journée. If you want to say hello, say bonjour. French good day, in other words, depends on whether you are arriving or leaving.

The Académie’s entry also lists bonjour as a way of taking leave during the day, but labels that use regional [1].

What is good afternoon in French?

Good afternoon as a greeting is still bonjour [1]. The Office lists bon après-midi among the wishes you can give when you leave someone, along with bon avant-midi and bonne fin de journée [3]. So bon après-midi is a “have a good afternoon”, not a hello.

How do you say good evening in French?

Say bonsoir. The Académie defines it as a politeness formula for greeting someone at the end of the day [2]. If you are asking about good evening in the French language more broadly, the Office adds that bonsoir can be used when you meet a person or when you leave them [3]. That is a difference from bonjour, which mostly opens a conversation [3].

To wish someone a good evening as you part, use bonne soirée. The Office calls it a wish used to close a conversation [3].

How do you say good night in French?

Say bonne nuit. The Office lists it among the wishes you can give when you leave someone, chosen by the time of day [3]. It is not a greeting, so do not use it to say hello at night. For a hello at night, the greeting is bonsoir [2][3].

The sources on this page do not say how late bonsoir turns into bonne nuit, and we did not find an official rule, so we leave the exact moment out.

Is it a greeting or a goodbye?

The Office draws the line: bonjour and bonsoir are greetings, while bonne journée and bonne soirée are wishes [3]. It adds that the two kinds look alike but are not interchangeable [3]. Use the first pair to start and the second pair to finish. Hear the greetings: bonjour and bonsoir. For a casual hi, salut works day or evening [3], and au revoir is covered in the goodbye guide.

Do you say bonne nuit or bonsoir when you arrive late?

Bonsoir is the greeting for arriving [2][3]. Bonne nuit sits with the wishes the Office lists for leaving someone [3]. Neither source gives an hour for late arrivals, so this is how the two words are classed, not a rule about the clock.

Common mistakes

• Translating good morning word for word. The Académie gives bonjour for greeting during the day [1]. The word-for-word version, bon matin, is a Québec spoken form with a different status (see below).
• Greeting with a wish. Bonne journée and bonne soirée are wishes used to close a conversation, not to open one [3].
• Saying bonjour at every hour without listening. The sources name no changeover time [1][2]. Listening to what people around you say is a general observation, not a rule from them.
• Writing bon matin in an email. The Office advises against it in writing, especially at work [3].
• Relying on a vocabulary page from a blog, including this one. Dictionary and Office pages change. Compare each page’s date and edition with the date at the top of this one.

See also: how are you in French and days of the week in French.

See also: telling time in French.

Sources