Good morning, good afternoon, good night

In Spain, buenos días often lasts until lunch, at about two in the afternoon.

Spanish has three set greetings tied to the time of day: buenos días, buenas tardes and buenas noches. They are polite without being stiff, so you can use them with a neighbour, a bus driver or a doctor. Which one to choose depends less on the clock than on meals and daylight, and the habits differ a little from country to country.

Buenos días

Buenos días (literally good days) is the morning greeting. Many people switch to buenas tardes at midday, but in Spain, where lunch is late, buenos días often carries on until lunch, around two in the afternoon. A rule of thumb many teachers give is to say buenos días until you have had lunch.

Buenas tardes

Buenas tardes covers the afternoon and early evening, from lunch until it gets dark. Spanish has no separate everyday word for evening: tarde stretches from after lunch to nightfall. The same word also means late, as in llegar tarde, to arrive late.

Buenas noches

Buenas noches is used once it is dark, both as a greeting when you arrive and as a goodbye when you leave, and also as good night before bed. So the same phrase can open a dinner and close it.

Notice the endings. Buenos goes with días, a masculine noun, and buenas with tardes and noches, which are feminine. Use the greetings alone or add a name or a title: Buenos días, señora López. Buenas tardes, Carlos.

Wishing a good day

To wish someone well as you leave, use que plus a form of tener (to have) or pasar (to spend): Que tengas un buen día (have a good day, to tú), Que tenga un buen día (to usted), Que pases una buena tarde (have a good afternoon). You will hear these at the end of a shop visit or a phone call. In this wish the singular buen día is normal everywhere, Spain included.