How to Say “Good Morning” in Spanish in 30 Ways

If there’s one thing people remember from high school Spanish class, it’s that “good morning” in Spanish is buenos días . But if your goal is to chat with native speakers (and sound like one), you should definitely be prepared with more morning phrases.

Let me teach you a bunch more ways to say good morning in Spanish, from the very basics to native-sounding phrases.

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Basic Phrases to Say Good Morning in Spanish

These are the one- or two-word common phrases you learn in Spanish class. It’s great to know them at the beginning, especially because you’ll hear them constantly.

Buenos días — Good morning

You can use buenos días to say good morning to anyone: your partner, roommate or that next-door neighbor you pass by every morning on your way to class.

Buen día — Good day

A shorter version of buenos días, many Spanish speakers use this phrase regardless of their country of origin. 

Buenas — Hi 

Use buenas to informally greet someone when visiting them or entering a store. You can use this word no matter what time of day it is.

Saludos — Hello / Greetings 

This is a shorter way to greet someone in Spanish throughout the day.

Note that saludos is less common in everyday speech. Instead, it’s most common in formal settings, such as at your job.

Asking Questions to Say Good Morning in Spanish

If you’re like me and love to practice Spanish at every chance, you can add one of the following questions to get the conversation going after buenos días.

¿Cómo está? — How are you? (formal) / ¿Cómo estás? — How are you? (informal)

Like in English, it’s super easy (and quite common) when you’re greeting someone in Spanish to ask how they are.

¿Cómo amaneció? — How did you sleep? (formal) / ¿Cómo amaneciste? — How did you sleep? (informal)

This phrase literally means, “how did you wake up?”

If you’re greeting someone who lives with you, or giving a quick call to your Spanish-speaking friend early in the morning, impress him or her by asking how they slept.

¿Qué tal? — What’s up? / How’s everything?

Another excellent follow-up to good morning in Spanish, you can use this phrase with someone you’re familiar with. 

¿Qué tal tu día? — How’s your day (going)? is another alternative.

¿Cómo durmió? — How did you sleep? (formal) / ¿Cómo dormiste? — How did you sleep? (informal)

Similar to ¿cómo amaneció?, you can ask someone how they slept with ¿cómo durmió? 

¿Qué hay de nuevo? — What’s new?

¿Qué hay de nuevo? is an alternative to ¿qué tal? and can also be used any time of the day.

You won’t usually learn colloquial phrases like these in the classroom, and there are many more.

The best way to pick up on them is by speaking with native speakers more and consuming native content, like watching videos on FluentU. Since the platform has videos primarily targeted to native speaker audiences, they’re full of colloquialisms like qué tal and qué hay de nuevo.

¿Cómo le va? — How’s it going? (formal) / ¿Cómo te va? — How’s it going? (informal)

Finally, you can use ¿cómo le va? to keep the conversation going with whoever you greet. It’s just another way of saying ¿cómo estás?

Using Titles and Pet Names to Say Good Morning in Spanish

Besides asking questions, you can greet someone in the morning by identifying them with a title or a descriptive noun phrase, even when you don’t know them!

Buenos días, señor (señora/señorita) — Good morning, Mr. (Mrs./Miss)

When you want to address someone but you don’t know their name, you can use señor, señora or señorita. Problem solved!

Buen día, joven  (jovencito/a) — Good day, young (person)

For a younger person—and if you’re older—you can use joven or jovencito(a) to say good morning in Spanish. It sounds a bit less dated than saying señor(a).

Buenos días, doctor (doctora) — Good morning, doctor

If the person is a doctor or has a PhD, you can greet them like this.

Saludos, profesor  (profesora) — Greetings, professor

Say hello to your college professor with this phrase.

Buen día, maestro  (maestra) — Good day, teacher

What better way to greet your Spanish teacher than with a “good morning” phrase in Spanish?

Buenos días a todos — Good morning, everyone

When entering a room full of people or a meeting, you can say buenos días a todos to greet everyone at once. And as always, adding a little hand wave never hurt.

Buenos días, amigo  (amiga) — Good morning, friend

If you’re meeting your friends in the morning, you can say buenos días, amigo, to add more connection.

Buenos días, familia — Good morning, family

Write this in your family WhatsApp group chat to teach them a bit of Spanish.

Buen día, cariño — Greetings, honey 

This is a bit more personal and is commonly used with someone’s partner or family members.

Buen día, querido  (querida) — Good day darling

Similar to cariño, use querida or querido to say good morning in Spanish to someone you’re in a romantic relationship with or with family members.

More Spanish Phrases to Use in the Morning

With this starter list for saying good morning in Spanish, you’re no longer stuck with the same old buenos días.

But I’m not done yet!

Tack on a few expressions below to your buenos días and you’re solid!

Feliz día — Happy day

Wish someone a happy day with feliz día.

Feliz lunes  (martes, etc) — Happy Monday (Tuesday, etc.)

Like English (i.e., happy Monday, Tuesday, etc), this phrase is a friendly way to say hello in the morning.

¡Levántese! – Wake up! (formal) / ¡Levántate! — Wake up! (informal)

Get that stubborn sleeper to wake up by yelling, ¡levántate!

Que tenga un buen día — I hope you have a nice day (formal) / Que tengas un buen día — I hope you have a nice day (informal)

Don’t just say buenos días. You can wish someone a good day at the end of a quick hello.

Espero que haya dormido bien — I hope you slept well (formal) / Espero que hayas dormido bien — I hope you slept well (informal)

Instead of asking the person you’re greeting how they slept, you can outright tell them you hope they slept like a baby.

Es hora de levantarse — It’s time to get up

A bit nicer way of waking someone up instead of ¡levántate!

Mucho gusto — It’s a pleasure

If you’re meeting someone for the first time, you can follow up buenos días with mucho gusto.

Es un placer conocerlo — It’s a pleasure to meet you (male) / Es un placer conocerla — It’s a pleasure to meet you (female)

This is another way of telling someone you’re happy to meet them.

Qué hermoso día — What a beautiful day

Get the banter going after buenos días by commenting on the weather in Spanish.

Excelente fin de semana — Have a good weekend

If you say good morning in Spanish right before or during the weekend, add this expression to wish someone a great weekend.

Excelente inicio de semana — Have an excellent week

You can wish someone a happy start to the week if you say good morning on a Monday. Anyone could use that encouragement!

 

Saying good morning in Spanish doesn’t have to be boring and repetitive!

You can ask someone how they are and address them by a title. There are tons of ways to keep the conversation going. And with the added expressions at the end, you’ll sound more like a native speaker!

Eager to learn more expressions? Take a look at ways to greet people in Spanish no matter what time of day it is.