Good Morning in German: 12 Ways to Say It (With Audio)

Q: How do Germans say good morning?

Germans say Guten Morgen (GOO-ten MOR-gen), and in everyday life very often just Morgen! Regionally you’ll also hear Moin in the north, Grüß Gott and Servus in Bavaria and Austria, and Grüezi or Guete Morge in Switzerland.

Q: Is it Guten Morgen or Guten Tag?

It’s about the clock. Guten Morgen runs from waking up until roughly 10 or 11 am. After that, Germans switch to Guten Tag for the rest of the day, then Guten Abend from about 6 pm. Saying Guten Morgen at 2 pm is a gentle joke about oversleeping.

Q: How do you respond to Guten Morgen?

Say Guten Morgen right back — that is the complete and correct answer. A relaxed Morgen! works with people you know, and you can add Wie geht’s? (“how are you?”) if you have time for a real conversation.

Q: Why is it “Guten” Morgen and not “Gute” Morgen?

Because der Morgen is a “der” word and you’re wishing the morning to someone, so gut takes an extra -n and becomes Guten. Night works differently: die Nacht is a “die” word, which is why you say Gute Nacht without the -n. Learn the four phrases as fixed units and you never have to think about it again.

Q: How do you pronounce Guten Morgen?

GOO-ten MOR-gen. Both g’s are hard, like the g in “go”. The -en endings are swallowed, so it sounds closer to GOO-t’n MOR-g’n. The r is soft and made at the back of the throat, but an English r will be understood everywhere.

German › Phrases › Good morning

Updated August 2026 · Everyday German · 5-minute read · 🔊 every phrase has audio

The quick answer: good morning in German is Guten Morgen (GOO-ten MOR-gen). Use it from the moment you wake up until about 11 am — after that, Germans switch to Guten Tag. In the north you’ll hear Moin instead, and in Bavaria and Austria Grüß Gott or Servus. Hear them all below. 👇

Guten Morgen!

GOO-ten MOR-gen · good morning — the one that works everywhere

🐌 Slow version

Morning is the one time of day German gets specific. There is a word for it, a clock attached to it, and a different version in almost every corner of the German-speaking world. Below are the twelve phrases a German morning actually runs on — with the pronunciation written out the easy way, and a play button on every one.

Looking for greetings for the whole day instead? Start with Hello in German — nine everyday greetings with audio. This page stays with the morning.

12 ways to say good morning in German

German	Say it like	What it means	Use it when…
Guten Morgen	GOO-ten MOR-gen	Good morning	the standard — anyone, anywhere, until about 11 am
Morgen!	MOR-gen	Morning!	the short one everybody actually says at home and at work
Moin	moyn	Morning / hello	northern Germany — and it works all day, not just mornings
Moin Moin	moyn moyn	Morning morning!	the friendly, chatty north-German double — Hamburg to the coast
Grüß Gott	grewss GOT	God greet you	Bavaria & Austria — the polite morning greeting in the south
Servus	ZEHR-voos	At your service	Bavaria & Austria, warm and casual — also means goodbye
Grüezi	GREW-tsee	Greetings	Switzerland — the polite Swiss hello, morning included
Einen schönen guten Morgen!	AY-nen SHUR-nen GOO-ten MOR-gen	A beautiful good morning!	the warm, full-hearted version — hosts, bakers, grandparents
Guten Morgen, gut geschlafen?	GOO-ten MOR-gen, goot geh-SHLAH-fen	Good morning, sleep well?	at the breakfast table, to family and house guests
Guten Morgen, mein Schatz	GOO-ten MOR-gen, mine shahts	Good morning, my treasure	to the person you love — the classic German pet name
Schönen Tag noch!	SHUR-nen tahk nokh	Have a nice day!	as you leave — the natural bookend to a morning greeting
Guten Tag	GOO-ten TAHK	Good day	what you switch to once the morning is over — about 11 am

💡 Pronunciation tip: both g’s in Guten Morgen are hard, like the g in “go” — never like “gee”. The ending -en is swallowed, so it comes out closer to GOO-t’n MOR-g’n. And the r is made softly at the back of the throat; if you say a light American “r”, every German will still understand you perfectly.

Why is it “Guten” Morgen and not “Gute”?

Here is the whole answer in one breath, and then we’ll never mention it again. Der Morgen is a “der” word, and you are wishing someone a good morning — so gut picks up an extra -n and becomes Guten. Night is different: die Nacht is a “die” word, which is exactly why Germans say Gute Nacht with no -n.

You don’t need to understand that rule to use it. You just need the four fixed phrases, and they never change:

German	Say it like	What it means	Use it when…
Guten Morgen	GOO-ten MOR-gen	Good morning	from waking up until roughly 10–11 am
Guten Tag	GOO-ten TAHK	Good day	late morning through the afternoon
Guten Abend	GOO-ten AH-bent	Good evening	from about 6 pm
Gute Nacht	GOO-tuh nahkht	Good night	only at bedtime — this one is a goodbye, not a hello

💡 The one mistake to avoid: Gute Nacht is never a greeting. If you walk into a room at 9 pm and say “Gute Nacht,” you have just told everyone you’re going to bed. The evening hello is Guten Abend.

Sie or du? How to be polite in the morning

Here is the good news, and it’s better news than most learners expect: Guten Morgen is polite and friendly at the same time. You can say it to your grandson or to the mayor. It never sounds too stiff and it never sounds too familiar.

The formality only shows up in what comes next — in whether you use Sie (polite “you”) or du (familiar “you”):

German	Say it like	What it means	Use it when…
Guten Morgen! Wie geht es Ihnen?	GOO-ten MOR-gen, vee gayt ess EE-nen	Good morning! How are you? (polite)	strangers, shopkeepers, the doctor, anyone you’d call Herr or Frau
Morgen! Wie geht’s?	MOR-gen, vee GAYTS	Morning! How’s it going? (familiar)	family, friends, children, anyone you call by first name
Haben Sie gut geschlafen?	HAH-ben zee goot geh-SHLAH-fen	Did you sleep well? (polite)	to a guest in your home, or the host of the guesthouse you’re staying in
Hast du gut geschlafen?	hahst doo goot geh-SHLAH-fen	Did you sleep well? (familiar)	to family at the breakfast table

The simplest test in the world: if you would say “Mr.” or “Mrs.” in English, use Sie and Ihnen. If you’d use their first name, use du and dir. And if you’re unsure, use Sie — nobody in Germany has ever been offended by too much courtesy. Being offered the du is a small honor there, and it’s always the older or more senior person who offers it. Wait to be invited, then accept happily.

Good morning in every corner of the German-speaking world

This is where German gets wonderful. Cross a state line and the morning changes its clothes.

German	Say it like	What it means	Where you’ll hear it
Moin	moyn	Hello (any hour)	Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein, the whole north coast
Juten Morjen	YOO-ten MOR-yen	Good morning (Berlin style)	Berlin, where a hard g quietly turns into a j
Grüß Gott	grewss GOT	God greet you	Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, all of Austria
Griaß di	GREE-ahss dee	Greet you (friendly)	Bavaria and Austria, between people who know each other
Servus	ZEHR-voos	At your service	Munich, Vienna, Salzburg — hello and goodbye in one word
Guete Morge	GOO-eh-teh MOR-guh	Good morning	German-speaking Switzerland
Grüezi	GREW-tsee	Greetings	Zurich and most of Switzerland — polite, all day

🇩🇪 Moin is not “morning”: almost everyone assumes Moin is a clipped Morgen. It isn’t. It comes from the old Low German word moi, meaning good or pleasant — which is why a Hamburger will say Moin to you at eight in the morning, at four in the afternoon, and at midnight, with a completely straight face.

How to answer when someone says “Guten Morgen”

You say it straight back. That’s the whole answer, and it’s always correct. If you’d like to do a little more, here are the four replies you’ll hear most:

German	Say it like	What it means	Use it when…
Guten Morgen!	GOO-ten MOR-gen	Good morning!	always correct — mirror it back
Morgen!	MOR-gen	Morning!	the relaxed mirror — colleagues, neighbors, family
Guten Morgen! Wie geht’s?	GOO-ten MOR-gen, vee GAYTS	Good morning! How are you?	when you have a minute to actually talk
Danke, gleichfalls!	DAHN-kuh, GLYSH-fahls	Thanks, you too!	when they wished you something — “Schönen Tag noch!”

Want the full set of answers to “how are you?” — including the honest ones Germans actually give? That’s the next lesson: How Are You in German.

Which one should you actually use?

If you only ever learn one, learn Guten Morgen. It is correct in Berlin, in Munich, in Vienna, in Zurich, in a bakery, in a boardroom, and at your cousin’s kitchen table. Nobody has ever winced at it.

Then, if you want to sound like you belong somewhere:

Visiting northern Germany? Say Moin. One syllable, and the whole room decides you’re fine.
Visiting Bavaria or Austria? Say Grüß Gott to strangers and shopkeepers, Servus to people you know.
Visiting Switzerland? Say Grüezi.
Writing an email or a card? Use Guten Morgen only if it will genuinely be read in the morning. Otherwise start with Guten Tag or Hallo.
Not sure what time it is? Hallo never fails.

🇩🇪 The breakfast-room rule: come down to breakfast in a small German Pension and you’ll watch this happen at every table. Each person who walks in says Guten Morgen to the room — not to anyone in particular, just to the room — and a few quiet voices answer from behind their newspapers. No introductions, no small talk, nothing else expected of you. But walking in without saying it is the thing people register. One word on the way in, and you have stopped being a stranger.

A little morning inheritance

If you grew up around German or Austrian grandparents, some of this may already be sitting in your memory. The smell of Brötchen (BRURT-shen — bread rolls) fetched fresh before breakfast, called Semmeln in Bavaria and Austria and Schrippen in Berlin. Coffee that arrived before conversation did. And, quite possibly, an embroidered cloth on the kitchen wall with an old proverb stitched across it:

Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund.

MOR-gen-shtoont haht golt im moont · “The morning hour has gold in its mouth” — the German early bird catches the worm

Say Guten Morgen out loud a few times and you may find it doesn’t feel like a new phrase at all. It feels like one you’re getting back.

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Practice: quick check

1. Your first morning in Zurich: you hand your key over at the front desk of a small hotel…

Grüezi! — Switzerland has its own polite greeting, and it carries you from breakfast right through to bedtime. Guten Morgen is understood perfectly well there too, but Grüezi is what the woman behind the desk will say to you first.

2. It’s 1 pm and you’re meeting your German neighbor for the first time…

Guten Tag! — the morning closed at about 11. Guten Morgen after lunch is the German equivalent of teasing someone for sleeping in.

3. You’ve arrived in Kiel to visit family and you pass the downstairs neighbor on the stairs at six in the evening…

Moin! — yes, in the evening. This far north the word has nothing to do with the hour, so people use it at breakfast, at dusk and on the last train home. Guten Abend would be perfectly correct — and would place you, instantly, as someone from somewhere else.

Guten Morgen — every phrase with its pronunciation, from My Everyday Language — Save or share this card — every word on it has a play button above.

Frequently asked questions

How do Germans say good morning?

Germans say Guten Morgen (GOO-ten MOR-gen), and in everyday life very often just Morgen! Regionally you’ll also hear Moin in the north, Grüß Gott and Servus in Bavaria and Austria, and Grüezi or Guete Morge in Switzerland.

Is it Guten Morgen or Guten Tag?

It’s about the clock. Guten Morgen runs from waking up until roughly 10 or 11 am. After that, Germans switch to Guten Tag for the rest of the day, then Guten Abend from about 6 pm. Saying Guten Morgen at 2 pm is a gentle joke about oversleeping.

How do you respond to Guten Morgen?

Say Guten Morgen right back — that is the complete and correct answer. A relaxed Morgen! works with people you know, and you can add Wie geht’s? (“how are you?”) if you have time for a real conversation.

Why is it “Guten” Morgen and not “Gute” Morgen?

Because der Morgen is a “der” word and you’re wishing the morning to someone, so gut takes an extra -n and becomes Guten. Night works differently: die Nacht is a “die” word, which is why you say Gute Nacht without the -n. Learn the four phrases as fixed units and you never have to think about it again.

How do you pronounce Guten Morgen?

GOO-ten MOR-gen. Both g’s are hard, like the g in “go”. The -en endings are swallowed, so it sounds closer to GOO-t’n MOR-g’n. The r is soft and made at the back of the throat, but an English r will be understood everywhere.

Can I say Moin in the morning — or is it only for the north?

Yes, Moin works beautifully in the morning, and it works at every other hour too, because it never meant “morning” in the first place — it comes from the Low German moi, meaning “good”. It is genuinely northern, though. Say it in Hamburg and you’ll fit right in; say it in Munich and people will smile and know exactly where you’ve been.

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